Educational Demo

Transcript

Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
The third main message of the exhibit is about people, water and choices. People change water and what you do matters history, climate change, access to information and aging infrastructure can all pose challenges to people sharing equally in our water wealth. The flow of water both connects and divides us. Water can act as a boundary or bridge. Let's start with history. It's hard putting ourselves in history and imagining what things were like. Not that long ago in western and southern Minnesota, the landscape has changed a lot. What was once boundless Prairie has been converted for agricultural uses. About 78% of the region is now cropland Of the watersheds that the Minnesota pollution control agency has studied in our region. Only 16% of streams meet water quality standards for aquatic life, and only 18% of lakes meet standards for safe fishing and swimming. Nature is clever and has a functioning plumbing system that drains the land, filters water and leave soil intact. Human actions have sped up the flow of water, causing erosion and runoff, which carries sediment fertilizers, manure and more into rivers and streams. We have made a lot of choices that have affected our waters. We worked hard to straighten streambeds over many years by channeling, ditching and damning. We have changed the natural course of half of Minnesota's 83,000 stream miles. This often leads to higher flow rates, which brings more pollutants into our waterways. There is a hidden world that flows underneath the ground that many people don't know about. We have installed a lot of drain tile and ditches for agriculture, drain tile is a plastic pipe installed under farmland to create good moisture conditions for crops. Rain water flows through the ground into the tile drainage and ends up in ditches and streams. The use of drain tile in Minnesota is increasing. We have also added hard surfaces in our cities and towns like streets and parking lots. Rain washes across these hard scapes rather than soaking into the ground and carries contaminants into storm drains and then on to rivers and streams. Fortunately, most minnesotans have access to safe drinking water, but there are some common contaminants in water that we should all know about. Like lead. Another common contaminants in groundwater in Minnesota is nitrate in areas vulnerable to groundwater contamination. Some public and private wells have nitrate levels that exceed the health limit. Where does nitrate pollution come from? There are several sources. High levels of nitrate in water can come from fertilized soil wastewater, landfills, feedlots, septic systems or urban drainage. A major contributor in rural areas is nitrogen fertilizer that moves deeper than the crop root zone. Areas with heavy row crop. Agriculture and vulnerable groundwater are especially at risk. As with most problems. Prevention is key. The cost of cleaning up pollution in groundwater is far more expensive than working to prevent it. It is important that we listen to the challenges faced by agricultural producers and support their efforts to prevent pollution. Solutions are diverse and depend on farm location, crops and economic challenges. You can learn more about how water is protected in your city. If you live in one public water suppliers often work with community partners in innovative ways to protect land that recharges public wells. It is important to know where our groundwater comes from in order to take care of our aging water infrastructure. Minnesota will have some large investments to make in the coming years. It's expected that in the next 20 years it will cost four billion to upgrade wastewater infrastructure and 7.4 billion for drinking water infrastructure. How do you think we should cover those big bills? Is safe drinking water a right or privilege? Why is water and essential for life cheaper than many non essential resources? Climate change impacts our relationship with water too. When humans burn things like fossil fuels, it creates carbon dioxide gas. Carbon dioxide is one of the main greenhouse gases that heats up our planet. We experience carbon dioxide every day. You are exhaling it right now and it makes our soda or pop, or whatever you call it. Fizzy. Climate change imposes a big cost on Minnesota's communities in agriculture. Farmers face new challenges including new plant pests, crop damage from storms, delayed planting because of wet spring conditions and soil loss from erosion. Livestock are experiencing more heat stress, which lowers productivity and increases mortality. Recreation and tourism are also threatened by winter warming. Minnesota's lake ice season has shortened and the loss of ice has accelerated these changes. Put activities that depend on frozen water at risk, heavy rains, put water quality at risk. A longer open water season in combination with increased stormwater runoff means that many bodies of water will be home to algae blooms, which are nasty. Indigenous food security and cultural traditions are in danger stable or declining. Water levels are ideal for wild rice development. But extreme weather events associated with climate change can cause water levels despite quickly and result in failed rice crops. Remember weather is what you see when you look out the window. Climate is what you expect to see based on decades of weather experience and data. There are three important climate trends we are seeing in Minnesota first, Minnesota is becoming warmer and wetter. Second, we are seeing more damaging rains, both in the amount dropped at one time and in mega rain events. Third, winters are warming faster than summers. We just don't get as cold as we once did. And while we still have some periodic severe cold spells, winters will continue to get warmer. Many minnesotans are taking action to protect our waters, slow down climate change, preserve species and protect the health of all people.