NEW ULM — Brown County Commissioners received a Public Waters Inventory (PWI) update from Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Lead Hydrologist Wes Saunders-Pearce Tuesday.

The PWI is a comprehensive list and mapping of state public waters. It includes all natural and altered watercourses that meet meet the public waters definition — those with a drainage area of more than two square miles.

Maintained by the DNR, the PWI helps identify and manage state water resources effectively by ensuring lakes, rivers and wetlands are accurately mapped and protected under state law.

Saunders-Pearce said the 2024 Legislature clarified that a public water is not exclusively identified by whether it’s on the PWI or not, that the statutory definition determines what is a public water.

“At the same time, because the PWI is such a robust tool that has stood the test of time, since the 1980s when it was established, legislature asked the DNR to update the map because it is a tool with a lot of backbone for things like the Minnesota Buffer Law, shore land designations and things of that nature,” he said.

Enacted in 2015, the Minnesota Buffer Law mandated the establishment of vegetative buffers to protect water quality by requiring landowners to maintain perennial vegetative buffers along public waters and drainage systems.

Saunders-Pearce said ultimately through the project, there will be a better shared understanding of the resources and more one-stop shopping for individuals looking for what and where public waters are.

He said the project is not a comprehensive redo of the public waters inventory from the 1980s and judicial decisions made from that time will not be reopened.

“It’s a targeted effort. The DNR is aware there are corrections to make in it that guide our work,” Saunders-Pearce said. “The statewide project will result in some things added and some things removed from the PWI. Anything added to the PWI will be required to follow the Minnesota Buffer Law requirements. We’re in close conversation with the Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources on that. We’re focusing on errors in the existing PWI.”

He said a number of trout stream tributaries need to be added to the PWI map but that will happen only after landowners are notified by letter.

“We’ll have a significant effort to restore watercourses (natural or artificial channels) removed by the buffer map projects about 10 years ago,” said Saunders-Pearce. “We had about 540 segments of streams or rivers that were administratively removed from the PWI during the buffer map project because there was a procedural error of not notifying landowners was discovered.”

The DNR Is updating the PWI county-by-county with the goal of completing an average of 12 counties a year to ensure it accurately reflects current legal definitions by 2032.

For each county, the DNR will send an initial notice to the county, soil and water conservation district and watershed agencies. A preliminary map will show corrections and any modifications submitted to county boards for a public meeting. Potentially affected landowners will receive direct mail notice.

The DNR will receive public input on the PWI Update preliminary map on a web-based tool accessible on the DNR web page.

Public feedback will be received on preliminary map revisions. A 60-day comment period will be held on corrections and modifications before necessary modifications are made before a provisional final map is submitted to the county and made available on the DNR project web page.

Parties including adjacent landowners (individuals or entities that own property adjacent to a water body like a river, lake or pond) or counties may challenge a DNR decision requesting a (DNR) Commissioner review of the modified and updated PWI before final maps and PWI lists are published.

Written comments may be submitted to the Public Waters Inventory Update, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4025 or PWI.Update.dnr@state.mn.us (email to PWI.Update.dnr@state.mn.us). Comments cannot be submitted by phone.