The Governor’s Water Unification Initiative (Executive Order 99-15) and Minnesota Statutes call for the Environmental Quality Board to determine the state's water priorities and to set the framework for water-related elements of the biennial budget.

The Environmental Quality Board’s Water Resources Committee has worked through EQB staff to develop the water priority areas for the Fiscal Year 2004-2005 biennium. These priorities are based on work done by seven locally-driven basin teams, and priorities identified by EQB member agencies in other water-related plans and documents.