After several years of personal stories shared with local officials seeking action to rectify the degrading water quality in St. Croix County, citizens reached out to Dr. Chris Jones, Retired Faculty, University of Iowa, to conceptualize the challenges the St. Croix River Watershed is facing. Dr. Jones is also the author of the book Swine Republic, a history of Iowa’s water quality issues due to thousands of concentrated hog facilities.

In response, Dr. Jones created a map for the St. Croix River Watershed—which encompasses data from both Minnesota and Wisconsin counties along the St. Croix River—that quantifies the amount of waste excreted by farmed animals in terms of nitrogen, phosphorus and solids. Using population Census of Agriculture county profiles, created every five years by USDA, Dr. Jones determines the equivalent human population needed to excrete that same amount of waste.

The map for the St. Croix River Watershed is similar to ones Dr. Jones developed for Iowa and the Great Lakes Basin to visualize how concentrated our livestock production has become over the past few decades and its impact on our waters.

The St. Croix River was designated as one of the original Wild and Scenic Rivers in 1968 and became part of the National Park System. It is treasured by citizens on both sides of the river and an economic driver for tourism and recreation. But persistent and extended beach closings along the river have gotten the attention of everyday citizens. Hudson resident, Cally Fuchs shares, “I remember when we could swim in the St. Croix River all summer long! Now beaches are being closed well before the 4th of July for the rest of the summer! What has changed? Geese and ducks have always lived along the river and their waste is nothing new.”

According to Dr. Jones’ map, the human population represented by the number of livestock is equal to having an extra 3.25 million people in the St. Croix River Watershed! The waste generated by these “extra people” (livestock) is largely untreated and applied to fields in the spring and fall greatly increasing the risk of runoff into our streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater especially when crops are absent on the landscape. Human and non-agricultural waste is typically treated through local municipal wastewater treatment plants that must comply with the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Act standards before being released back into the environment.

Increased concentration of livestock over the past 50 years has changed how industrial manure wastewater is handled, allowing more cows in one location and fewer acres to spread their waste. Local soil tests on fields spread upon with industrial manure waste reveal oversaturation of nutrients in the ground. Rain events and snow melt cause these nutrients to end up in our ground and surface waters—closing beaches, causing fish kills, and turning our lakes green. While voluntary participation in conservation programs by producers is encouraged, commended and compensated with cost sharing, the bottom line is water quality in the St. Croix River still has not improved since 2012 when the St. Croix River was first listed on the EPA’s “Impaired Waters” list.

Elsewhere in the watershed, green lakes, fish kills and contaminated drinking water have gotten the attention of everyday citizens. Over 12% of rural residents in St. Croix County’s study group had excessive nitrates in their drinking water of over the 10 ppm health standard, while 77% of wells reported nitrate concentrations above 2 mg/L—a clear indication of impact of land-use practices on groundwater quality per the most recent Citizen Groundwater Monitoring Program – Year 6 Report. Most rural residents with contaminated drinking water in Wisconsin are not being assisted by any governmental agency at either the local, state, or federal level.

However, eight counties in southeastern Minnesota with similar geology and land use have nearly 9,200 rural residents with drinking water of over 10 ppm health standard (2.4% of their population) and EPA is working with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to develop a work plan to identify, contact, test and offer alternative water to all impacted persons. In January 2025, a coalition of groups filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, to compel state agencies to enact stricter rules on manure and commercial fertilizers.

Thus, concerned citizens formed St. Croix CURES (Citizens Uniting for Responsible Environmental Stewardship) who will be hosting the St. Croix River Watershed Clean Food & Water Forum on October 4, 2025, at the RCU Discovery Center at Camp St. Croix in Hudson, WI. Dr. Chris Jones will be speaking and presenting this map along with sharing his personal story and insights into our concentrated agricultural system as a retired research engineer from the University of Iowa. This event will be free and open to the public.