Effective educational and management programs to improve water quality will require an improved understanding of public perceptions of the relationship between land use and water quality. We analyzed a large database of newspaper articles in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to assess the public discourse about water quality and land use, and gauge indirectly public perceptions. Most articles focused on water quality improvement and many expressed readiness to take action to protect water quality. Environmental education and communication efforts aimed at improving water quality should be explicit about relationships between specific land uses and water quality to increase awareness and acceptance of management practices. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)