About the Association

The JPB is committed to engaging local people to become informed and active in cleaning up the Pomme de Terre River. Many other agencies, individuals, and organizations are involved with the Pomme de Terre River Association. With your help we can make the Pomme de Terre River a great resource for all to enjoy.

There was no funding available when the association implemented the Joint Powers Agreement on August 11, 1981, so the Joint Powers Board did not pursue implementing a watershed project. In February of 1999, the Joint Powers group started meeting again to determine if there was enough interest to re-establish a committee, reinstate the Joint Powers Agreement and develop a watershed project. Strong interest existed and the Joint Powers Agreement was reinstated in 2002. The group sponsored two bus tours of the watershed in the spring of 2001, sponsored several public input meetings and sent out newsletters to watershed residents.

In 2000 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency funded the Pomme de Terre River Watershed Project with $50,000 to compile all of the data that has been studied on the Pomme de Terre River Watershed.

The grant funds were used to complete the following list of items:

• Compiled all the existing water quality data in the watershed
• Hired a part-time coordinator for the watershed June 2000
• Created a Technical Advisory Committee for the watershed
• Hosted four Public Input and Information Meetings in September 2001
• Published a “Pomme de Terre River Newsletter” in August 2001
• Started a Citizen Stream Monitoring Program through MPCA and local water plan managers
• Began the watershed plan writing process
• Involved stakeholders at regular JPB meetings to share opinions and ideas about the watershed
• Used resources collectively to write and receive a $50,000 Special Cost Share grant from the Board of Water and Soil
• Resources for implanting BMPs (Best Management Practices) in May 2001. Best management practices are methods farmers use to reduce the amount of nutrients, fecal coliform, and other pollutants that make their way into surface and ground water.
• Hired a consultant to review data and create tables comparing sites
• Created a comprehensive report on the existing data and the accomplishments of the Pomme de Terre River Association since the early 1980s

From 1983 to 1993 water samples were collected that placed a stretch of the Pomme de Terre River from Muddy Creek to Marsh Lake on the EPA impaired waters list for fecal coliform and low oxygen.

The Technical Committee and Joint Powers continued to meet through 2005 to move the project forward. Currently, there are two TMDL projects underway in the Pomme de Terre. We have a Watershed Project Coordinator working with interested landowners and agencies to decide how to best implement projects that will improve water quality by decreasing the turbidity and fecal coliform concentration in the impaired reach.

Please see the Projects and Monitoring sections of our site for more information about this work.