East Grand Forks
Moorhead
Duluth
Saint Cloud
Minneapolis
Rochester
(A)
Percentage of Surface Drinking Water from Intermittent,
Ephemeral, and Headwater Streams in Minnesota
Key:
Intermittent, ephemeral, and
headwater stream miles as
percentage of total stream
miles contained in all SPAs
for a given county
12% - 44%
45% - 56%
No Data
200
3 Miles
Fairmont
o
International Falls
Legend: This map highlights regional patterns of dependence on intermittent, ephemeral, and headwater streams for surface drinking water in
Minnesota. In Minnesota, 1,736 total miles of streams provide water for surface water intakes supplying public drinking water systems; of this, 627
miles, or 36%, are intermittent, ephemeral, or headwater streams. Over 970,000 people in Minnesota receive drinking water from public drinking
water systems that rely at least in part on intermittent, ephemeral, or headwater streams. This analysis compared the stream length of intermittent,
ephemeral, and headwater streams to total stream length within all mapped Source Protection Areas (SPAs) for each county. A SPA is an area
upstream from a drinking water source or intake that contributes surface water flow to the drinking water intake during a 24-hour period. This is
based on data that generally do not include streams less than one mile in length. Intermittent streams are streams containing water for only part of
the year. Ephemeral streams flow in response to precipitation events. First-order streams have been used to represent headwater streams.

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