Minnesota DNR webinar to explain Public Waters Inventory update project

Eight-year project will include input opportunities

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will conduct a webinar for anyone interested in learning more about the department’s project to update Minnesota’s Public Waters Inventory. The webinar will be held from 2-3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Here is the link and phone option for joining the webinar:

• Join link
  • https://minnesota.webex.com/minnesota/j.php?MTID=m0fa5b7ce5e793dee07a028f26f9aa59c
• Webinar number:
  • 2486 954 6512
• Webinar password:
  • PWIUpdate (79487328 when dialing from a phone or video system)
• Join by phone
  • +1-415-655-0003 United States Toll
  • 1-855-282-6330 United States Toll Free
• Access code:
  • 248 695 46512

The DNR is updating the PWI over the next eight years, in keeping with a requirement enacted earlier this year. The PWI is an important tool for the DNR, local governments, other state agencies, landowners and anyone else who wants to identify the locations of public waters in Minnesota. The PWI update will provide better water resource protection and a shared understanding for landowners, local governments and the public at large.

“The Public Waters Inventory is an essential conservation tool that has brought great environmental and water quality benefits to all of Minnesota,” DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said. “The PWI update will ensure the future utility of that tool. We look forward to the robust opportunities for engagement with interested governments, groups and individuals that this update provides.”

The webinar will explain what the PWI is and how the DNR determines what constitutes a public water in accordance with state statute. It will also include information about the recent legislation that requires the DNR to update the PWI, and will outline the process that will be used to update the PWI. The webinar will include a question-and-answer opportunity. While there will be time to answer some questions during this webinar, the DNR also intends to provide written responses to further address public questions. A recording of the webinar and the written responses will be posted to the PWI update project webpage (mndnr.gov/pwi-update) and written responses will be emailed to those who have signed up for updates at this webpage.

The definition of what constitutes a public water is established in statute and did not change with this year’s directive to update the Public Waters Inventory. Public waters include lakes, wetlands and watercourses of certain sizes and characteristics. The 2024 statute revision did clarify that public waters are not determined by their inclusion in or exclusion from the PWI.

The PWI was originally developed following a 1979 directive for the DNR to assemble county maps and lists of water bodies in Minnesota that met the statutory definition in Minnesota Statute 103G.005 (revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/103G.005) of “public waters.” The original PWI was completed in the mid-1980s.

The presence of a public water carries benefits and obligations for riparian landowners. Public waters cannot be privately owned and are held in trust by the state for the benefit of all Minnesotans. As such, the DNR is charged under state law with regulating activities within public waters to ensure the public’s collective interest in those waters is protected.

The PWI is also used to determine buffer requirements under the Buffer Law. Minnesota’s Buffer Law requires perennial vegetation buffers of up to 50 feet along rivers, streams and ditches that help filter out phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment. More information is available on the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) Buffer Law webpage (bwsr.state.mn.us/minnesota-buffer-law).

The PWI update will make needed corrections to the inventory. Waterbodies that are on the inventory that don’t meet the statutory definition of public waters will be removed and any waterbodies that are not on the inventory that do meet the statutory definition will be added. To facilitate the update, the DNR will use modern technology that was not available when the original inventory was completed in the 1980s.

Updates about the project will be available on the DNR website (mndnr.gov/waters/watermgmt_section/pwi/update.html).

Questions about the project can be sent to pwi.update.dnr@state.mn.us.