Surface Water

Clean lakes, rivers, and wetlands are community assets that support public health, recreation, and overall quality of life. Local governments must include a local water management plan in their comprehensive plan. These plans ensure growth and community health are supported by sustainable, clean water for homes, schools, businesses, farms, and recreation.

  • Protect and Improve Water: Safeguard lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and groundwater for long-term sustainability.
  • Recreation and Health: Provide access to clean water bodies that support recreation, well-being, and community vitality.

Minimum Requirements

Minimum requirements are the baseline elements every community must include in their comprehensive plan. They ensure consistency and compliance with state law, and alignment with regional policy. These requirements create a foundation that allows local plans to reflect community priorities while supporting regional goals. For more information about minimum requirements, click here.

Using the table

  • Filter: by community, policy topic area, or explore new/updated requirements for the 2050 planning cycle.
  • Ref No: Each requirement has a unique identifier. Gaps in numbering mean certain regional requirements do not apply to your community.
  • Resources: provides tools, guides, and resources to help meet each requirement. Some requirements may appear more than once if multiple resources are available.

Your complete list of minimum requirements can also be downloaded directly from your Community Page.

 

Going Beyond the Minimum Requirements

Meeting the minimum requirements ensures that a comprehensive plan is complete and compliant, but communities that go further can create plans that are truly transformative. By moving beyond the basics, local governments can reflect local priorities, prepare for future challenges, and enhance the unique character of their communities while advancing equity, resilience, and quality of life for all residents. This section offers resources, advice, and best practices to help communities strengthen their plans and set a course toward a more inclusive, sustainable, and vibrant future. 

Include Physical and Environmental Context

  • Consider including information on the physical environment and land use information, such as: topography, soils, general geology, surface water resources including streams, lakes, wetlands, public waters, public ditches, water quality and quantity information, groundwater resources including ground and surface water connections if defined in an approved and adopted county ground water plan, storm water systems, drainage systems, and control structures, regulated pollutant sources and permitted wastewater discharges, fish and wild life habitat and rare and endangered species, and water based recreation areas.

Promote Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Management

  • Support green infrastructure strategies to increase the opportunity for natural processes to treat stormwater and remove pollutants, increase stormwater infiltration and improve groundwater recharge.
  • Consider adoption of the MPCA Minimal Impact Design Standards (MIDS) performance goals and flexible treatment options in the Minnesota Stormwater Manual MIDS.
  • For communities that do not adopt MIDS, the plan should use stormwater practices that promote infiltration/filtration and decrease impervious areas, such as with better site design and integrated stormwater management, where practical. (Communities must meet requirements of the MS4 permit if they are regulated. MS4 permits put preference on green infrastructure, including infiltration. Construction permits will govern this either way, and also requires use of green infrastructure when possible.)
  • Include information on the types of best management practices to improve stormwater quality and quantity. A five-year establishment period is recommended for native plantings and bio-engineering practices.
  • Include a maintenance schedule for the best management practices identified in your plan.
  • It is suggested that at a minimum, land-altering activities do not increase peak stormwater flow from the site for a 24-hour precipitation event with a return rate frequency of 1 or 2, 10, and 100 years.

Identify and Protect Priority Water Resources

  • Include priority areas or policies for identifying priorities for wetland preservation, enhancement, restoration, and establishment.
  • Provide a list of the regional priority waters within your jurisdiction. If the water is monitored, please provide information about who is responsible, the monitoring frequency, and analytes of interest.
  • Include a list of any impaired waters within your jurisdiction as shown on the current Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) 303d Impaired Waters List.
  • Identify and map source water protection areas and corresponding vulnerabilities in your community.
  • If a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) or Total Maximum Daily Load (TDML) study has been completed, the community should include implementation strategies, including funding mechanisms, to carry out the recommendations and requirements from the WRAPS or TMD. More information on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Homepage.
  • Have an erosion and sediment control ordinance consistent with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction Stormwater permit requirements and other applicable State requirements.

Address Special and Sensitive Waters

  • Communities with State Designated Trout Streams should identify actions in their plan to address the thermal pollution effects from development.
  • Communities with special waters, such as outstanding resource value waters, need to meet state requirements for development near these waters.

Use Tools and Standards to Strengthen Water Planning

Incorporate Education, Maintenance, and Regulatory Practices

  • Include education strategies to raise awareness of stormwater issues in the community and teach residents about good conservation practices.
  • Have an erosion and sediment control ordinance consistent with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction Stormwater permit requirements and other applicable State requirements.

Review Existing Policies, Partnerships and Available Resources

  • Many federal, state, and local government agencies have a role in managing water resources within the region. Review the Council's Water Resources Toolbox for more information about their role in water resources management.
  • Review of the previous plan’s implementation table tasks. If they were not achieved, please evaluate the obstacles to success (lack of funding, conditions changed, etc.). This can help identify future directions and resource needs.