LWV UMRR at the Headwaters...

This two-day "Celebrate the Headwaters" event (described here) began on Sunday, October 1, with us taking the last cruise of the season with Coborn's Lake Itasca tours.  We visited and talked about water issues with LWV member and the public on the cruise, then met at the Headwaters for a group photo.  On Monday, we held our Board meeting in the morning and at noon were joined by speakers from the Minnesota Department of Health and the nonprofit "Toxic Taters" to talk about nitrate in drinking water.  You can watch the education part of the program here. - we recorded it and live-streamed through Facebook Live.    

​Increasing nitrates in drinking water is a critical issue across our watershed.  Our speaker, Chris Parthun, is a planner who works with cities in their wellhead protection programs.  He showed us that nitrate concentrations found in new wells has been increasing over time, and that the most impacted area of the state is the central sands region.

​Well, the weather was not as we'd shown possible in our invitation emails (photo 1).  It was cold and windy when we were there in October, and nobody played on the rocks that mark the start of the Mississippi.  And yet, we persevered, explored, and witnessed the source of our river.  Left to right in photo 2 - Gretchen Sabel, Chair LWV UMRR; Jeorgette Knoll, President LWV ABC (Anoka, MN); Beth Baker-Knuttila, LWV UMRR Membership coordinator; Lonni McCauley, LWV UMRR Vice Chair; Tam Prenosil, LWV UMRR Secretary; and Carolyn Mahlum-Jenkins, LWV UMRR Board Member.  

Photo three shows Tam Prenosil with Carolyn White and Sharon Natzel from LWV Park Rapids and Gretchen Sabel and Beth Baker-Knuttila on Coborn's Lake Itasca boat cruise as we head to the Headwaters. 

​When we turned around and headed back to dock, it was a hair-raising experience!  

Katie DeSchane was on hand to talk about the work that Toxic Taters is doing in the Park Rapids area.  Park Rapids, MN, is the city closest to the Headwaters.  Changes in land use, where former tree plantations are being cut and repurposed for irrigated potato farming, is a growing concern.  Kathie's group works to raise public awareness of the issue and to help people take action to protect their water supplies.  Here are some links:  Minnesota Department of Health Source Water Protection; Toxic Taters, and Friends of the Mississippi Headwaters.  This last group had a table at our meeting with information on their work on pipelines - read about it in this blog post on the LWV UMRR website.