Minnesota Watershed Cost-Benefit Analysis Model Scoping Study

The Minnesota Legislature commissioned a six-month study to investigate the framework for a cost-benefit model to analyze water quality standards through a watershed-based approach that evaluates both point and nonpoint pollution sources (Laws of Minnesota 1998, Chapter 401, Section 59). Although watershed management has been practiced in Minnesota for decades to protect and restore water quality, this study was undertaken because of the growing understanding of the complex and often conflicting choices facing those who live in, use, and manage watersheds if watershed integrity is to be maintained over the long term.