Concerned about elevated levels of E. coli bacteria following last month's floods, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is continuing to conduct water sampling in Carlton County after raw sewage swept into the Moosehead Lake and the river access on the Moose Horn River near Sturgeon Lake.

On the bright side, there are 13 lakes that were cleaned up enough to come off the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's semi-annual list of polluted waterways. On the other hand, more than 500 rivers and lakes were added to that list. There are now more than 3,600 bodies of water that are too polluted for fishing or swimming.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency signed off on a plan to dump more than 13 tons of taconite concentrate into Rush Lake. The lake association wants to reduce the level of phosphorus, which leads to growth of algae and invasive pondweed. It hopes the taconite experiment will do the trick. Audubon Minnesota had argued for an environmental review.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for more than a decade has allowed a sewage treatment plant to pollute recreational lakes in Alexandria, an environmental law firm alleges in a new lawsuit. It's the latest in a string of complaints by advocacy groups who say the state's top environmental regulator is not tough enough in protecting Minnesota's lakes and rivers.

Minnesota environmental officials say cleanup efforts to cut phosphorous levels in the Minnesota River are making a difference, the Star Tribune reports. After testing this summer, the Pollution Control Agency found oxygen levels in one of the state's dirtiest waterways are better than expected. The agency credits a 2004 phosphorous reduction plan for sewage treatment plants