Cool it! Continued Efforts to Solve the Temperature Impairment on Miller Creek using 13 Stormwater BMPs
The South St. Louis SWCD will collaborate with the City of Duluth to implement 13 stormwater BMPs in two high priority parks in the Miller Creek Watershed. The proposed BMP locations were prioritized by the city & SWCD based on the desire to coordinate with upcoming construction planned for Lincoln Park & on the sediment impacts resulting from worsening erosion problems in Piedmont Park. The proposed BMPs include a combination of bio-infiltration, native plantings & structural components estimated to reduce volume by 2 acre-feet, phosphorus by 1 pound per year and sediment by one ton per year.
The South St. Louis SWCD will collaborate with the City of Duluth to implement 13 stormwater BMPs in two high priority parks in the Miller Creek Watershed. Together with ongoing restoration efforts from other groups & businesses, recently-completed stream restoration work in Lincoln Park, & a 3,000 ft stream restoration project planned for 2021, these BMPs will help to restore Miller Creek to a ?fishable & swimmable? coldwater trout stream. Miller Creek has been well-studied & has a recently approved TMDL for temperature. Monitoring, stressor identification & implementation actions were also conducted & assigned to Miller Creek under two recently-completed WRAPS cycles for the St. Louis River & Duluth Urban Watersheds, which identified elevated e. coli levels & chloride toxicity as additional impairments to the creek. The proposed BMP locations were prioritized by the City & SWCD based on the desire to coordinate with upcoming construction planned for Lincoln Park & on the sediment impacts resulting from worsening erosion problems in Piedmont Park. The proposed BMPs include a combination of bio-infiltration, native plantings & structural components all aimed at reducing stormwater volume & flows & infiltrating & cooling stormwater runoff. The proposed activities align with the State's Nonpoint Priority Funding Plan, the St. Louis River & Duluth Urban Watershed WRAPS studies (as targeted implementation activities), and the County's comprehensive Water Mgmt plan. In addition, Miller Creek is identified as a priority resource in Duluth's St. Louis River Corridor Initiative, which has leveraged over $5M in Federal, State & private funds, with $4M in local tax funds to support small-scale restoration projects that support comprehensive, multi-agency, watershed improvements in western Duluth.
Annie Felix-Gerth
(b) $6,882,000 the first year and $12,618,000 the second year are for grants to protect and restore surface water and drinking water; to keep water on the land; to protect, enhance, and restore water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams; and to protect groundwater and drinking water, including feedlot water quality and subsurface sewage treatment system projects and stream bank, stream channel, shoreline restoration, and ravine stabilization projects. The projects must use practices demonstrated to be effective, be of long-lasting public benefit, include a match, and be consistent with total maximum daily load (TMDL) implementation plans, watershed restoration and protection strategies (WRAPS), or local water management plans or their equivalents. A portion of these funds may be used to seek administrative efficiencies through shared resources by multiple local governmental units.
Lincoln Park-1.3 acre impervious area routed to BMPs will remove: 52 % annual SW runoff volume; 71% annual total Phosphorus; 91% annual TSS. Piedmont Park-1 acre impervious area routed to BMPs will remove: 48% annual total Phosphorus; 90% annual TSS
Grant funds funded the stormwater projects in Lincoln and Piedmont parks had a combined reduction of 2.36 lbs of phosphorous, 2.48 acre-feet/year storage and 2.08 tons/year of sediment.
LOCAL LEVERAGED FUNDS