DNR begins updating Public Waters Inventory
As mandated by state lawmakers in 2024, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has begun updating the state’s Public Waters Inventory (PWI) for the first time since the 1980s. The Legislature allocated $8 million between 2025 and 2032—$1 million annually—to update the PWI.
The project will proceed county-by-county, with the goal of completing an average of 12 counties a year, according to the DNR. The department plans to update four counties at a time—one in each of its four administrative regions. Counties will be updated on a quasi-alphabetical basis, with adjustment as needed to defer areas with intricate topics such as ongoing trout stream designations.
Below is more information from the DNR about the process for updating the PWI. The Minnesota Corn Growers Association, along with our ag partners, will be actively engaged as the DNR utilizes these funds to make the necessary updates and corrections that are long overdue.
MCGA will also continue to advocate for a legislative correction to provide more certainty to farmers on what is or is not a public water. (Unfortunately, the 2024 law that allocated funding to update the PWI requires the use of the statutory definition to determine whether a water body is a public water beginning in 2027.) We will continue to argue that the PWI should provide certainty to farmers.
What to expect in each county
For each county, in general, the DNR will:
- Send an initial notice to the county, local governments, and newspapers.
- Prepare a preliminary map reflecting the corrections and any modifications and submit it to the county board. Potentially affected landowners will receive direct mail notice.
- Host a public meeting, in conjunction with a county board meeting, to elicit public feedback on the preliminary revisions to the map. After the public meeting, the DNR will provide a 30-day comment period on the corrections and modifications made in the preliminary map.
- Review the feedback received during the comment period and make necessary modification to the preliminary map. This revised map, now a provisional final map, will be submitted to the county and made available on the DNR’s project web page.
- Provide 90 days for parties (including riparian landowners) or counties wishing to challenge a decision made by the DNR to request Commissioner review of the modified and updated PWI.
- Issue the updated PWI list and map for the county, upon completion of DNR Commissioner review.
Project goals
Update the Inventory: The Public Waters Inventory Update Project addresses known errors identified by the DNR. Key updates include adding trout streams and tributaries identified since the 1990s, and correcting classification errors found during the 2016 Buffer Protection Map initiative. Review will include other DNR-identified errors.
Support Water Protection: Help landowners, agencies, and local governments better understand and manage water resources.
Clarify Regulations: Ensure compliance with state laws, including Minnesota’s Buffer Law, which requires public waters to have vegetative buffers to protect water quality.
Learn more
Details about the PWI are available on the Public Waters Inventory Program web page.
