Synthetic Hydrographs for Minnesota Streams

The project will improve water management in the State of Minnesota. The result will be a water management tool that can be used by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to determine low flow statistics when establishing permit discharge limits and by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to help in water appropriations permitting. This tool also will be used by watershed districts in understanding and quantifying the State’s water budget, the Nature Conservancy in its Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) process, and the United States Geological Survey.

The goals of this project are: to develop improved low flow statistical calculations for setting Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) permit effluent discharge standards for incorporation into the United States Geological Survey (USGS) StreamStats application, develop flow-duration curve regression equations for eventual incorporation into the National USGS StreamStats application, and to provide stream flow estimates for ungagged areas of the state.