Red River Basin Water Quality Decision Support Application (WQDSA)
This project will provide land and water managers in the Red River Basin with data and online tools to prioritize actions on the landscape that achieve water quality objectives identified in local and state plans. This will help identify strategically important locations for implementing erosion control and water management practices. Standardized watershed-based data products will be integrated into a web-based planning tool which will be added to the Red River Basin Decision Information Network (RRBDIN) being developed as part of the Red River Watershed Feasibility Study.
The WQDSA project will develop and refine high resolution remote sensing data to effectively target locations that reduce field erosion, map areas of gully erosion and areas of concentrated flow based on subtle landscape changes. Using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology allows large scale data analysis that would be impossible to obtain using traditional land survey techniques.
The WQDSA will provide public access to new geospatial data layers in an online application to effectively plan and implement activities to reduce flow and sediment loading. The WQDSA will allow users to identify the water quality problems; establish goals and objectives; reference planning documents; interactively create maps of projects for demonstration and marketing; save projects in a database for future refinement; and potentially export relevant information in a format suited to existing planning and reporting tools.
The 20-member BWSR board consists of representatives of local and state government agencies and citizens. Members are appointed by the governor of the state of Minnesota consistent with Minnesota Statutes 103B.101. Board members at the time the grant was made were: County Commissioner Appointees: Quentin Fairbanks; Tom Loveall; Brian Napstad; Soil and Water Conservation District Appointees: Paul Langseth, Louise Smallidge and Bob Burandt; Watershed District or Watershed Management Organization Appointees: Gene Tiedemann, LuAnn Tolliver and Todd Foster; Citizen Appointees: Paul Brutlag ; Gerald Van Amburg; John Meyer; Cities & Townships: Sandy Hooker -Township; Christy Jo Fogarty -Metro City; Keith Mykleseth -Non-Metro City; Agency: Chris Elvrum - Minnesota Department of Health; Rebecca Flood - Pollution Control Agency; Tom Landwehr - Department of Natural Resources; Matt Wohlman - Minnesota Department of Agriculture; Faye Sleeper - Minnesota Extension Service;
Wayne Zellmer -BWSR Grants Coordinator; Matt Drewitz -BWSR South Region Clean Water Specialist; Art Persons -MDH Planning Supervisor Drinking Water Protection; Jeff Hrubes -BWSR North Region Clean Water Specialist; Marcey Westrick -BWSR Metro Clean Water Specialist; Julie Westerlund -DNR Clean Water Coordinator; Robert L. Sip -MDA Environmental Policy Specialist; Anna Kerr -MPCA -Stormwater / TMDL Coordinator; Nick Proulx -DNR Central Region Clean Water Legacy Specialist; Karen Evens - MPCA -Watershed Projects Manager; Joshua Stamper -MDA Research Scientist, Pesticide & Fertilizer Management; Norman R. Mofjeld -MDA Hydrologist P.G. Well Management Section;
Nicole Clapp
(b) $3,000,000 the first year and $3,000,000 the second year are for targeted local resource protection and enhancement grants. The board shall give priority consideration to projects and practices that complement, supplement, or exceed current state standards for protection, enhancement, and restoration of water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams or that protect groundwater from degradation. Of this amount, at least $1,500,000 each year is for county SSTS implementation
Geospatial Data Products Data Products integrated into WQDSA in RRBDIN. Steering Committee Meetings/Train-the-Trainer Sessions. Feasibility report (expand WQDSA functions) Final Report and Workshops
Created new LiDAR-derived DEMs based on ground and key points for each block of the Lidar mapping initiative and converted blocks into seamless data set throughout the MN-side of the basin; resampled seamless data to 3-meter
resolution.
Established a standard method to process existing digital elevation data into and available products needed to hydrologically condition the base DEM.
Determined that a DEM conditioned with HMS-based products (i.e. culvert locations) could be used to derive data products to achieve project goals.
Developed a set of 42 project watershed boundaries consistent with the LiDAR-derived watershed boundaries from the HMS modeling and the current USGS HBD dataset.
Developed and refined a hydro conditioning toolbox for use in ArcGIS based on meetings and technical workshops with NRCS and HEi personnel responsible for the quality control in HMS-models model.
Created a hydrologically-conditioned 3m DEM, flow direction grid, flow accumulation grid, and fill grid for 19 of the 42 project watersheds.
Developed a catchment processing toolset that will enable creation of catchment based data consistent with the data already complete or under development for Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAP) studies in the basin.
Reviewed metadata standards and consulted GIS specialists to start development of metadata.
Created a hydrologically-conditioned 3m and 5m DEM, flow direction DEM, flow accumulation DEM, and filled DEM for remaining 23 project watersheds.
Created metadata for GIS raster products.
The source of additional funds varies from project to project, but generally consists of federal, local and non-public sources.