The Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization (VRWJPO), in partnership with the City of Hastings and Dakota County, are working to systematically address Total Suspended Solids (TSS) sources contributing to the Vermillion River through use of a prioritized, targeted, and measurable subwatershed assessment approach to identify and implement the most cost- effective and feasible projects to address the Vermillion River's turbidity impairments and TMDL's.
The purpose of this project is to collect data sets of specific parameters selected by the MPCA while fostering citizen interest and participation in surface water monitoring.
This project will collect data for 8 lakes and 4 stream sites in 2010 and 2011. The lakes included in this project have little or no data, or are lakes where citizens have asked for monitoring assistance.
This proposal seeks to prevent nitrate contamination in and around vulnerable Non-Community (Transient and Non-Transient) Public Water Supplies within the sandy outwash plains of the Mississippi River in Central Minnesota. Within the work area we have identified 221 public (non-municipal) water supplies in this area which include places of worship, restaurants, office spaces, bars, daycares and campgrounds within the Morrison and Benton County work area.
Planned improvements to the Downtown area will include installation of underground storage, use of a water tower retired from potable service, and a new irrigation system to utilize stormwater runoff in lieu of potable water for irrigation of several green areas.
This project will utilize eight surface water sites in the Redeye River Watershed to collect chemical samples and complete field analysis that will be helpful in determining the health of the streams in the watershed. The Redeye River Watershed contains three main rivers (Red Eye, Leaf, and Wing) that drain to the Crow Wing River and ultimately to the Mississippi River. Main concerns in this watershed are low dissolved oxygen levels, excess sediment, increased drainage and flow alterations, and high bacteria levels.
Ramsey County is the smallest, most densely populated county in the state of Minnesota consisting of primarily urbanized land use. Ramsey County's water resources provide the industrial base, drinking water, and recreational opportunities for over one-half million people on a daily basis. The major environmental problems that Ramsey County lakes and streams face can be traced to the effects that urbanized land use has on these natural resources.
Lake of the Woods is a world-class fishery and an important economic driver for Roseau County. The proposed project will investigate and quantify sources of sediment to the lower portion of the Warroad River near its confluence with Lake of the Woods. Sedimentation at the mouth of the Warroad River is a concern for several reasons including fisheries habitat, water quality and the drinking water supply for the city of Warroad.
Lake of the Woods (LOW) is a resource with local, regional, state, and international significance and is the second largest lake in Minnesota. Over the past three decades the Warroad River Harbor in LOW has experienced severe sedimentation problems. The sedimentation has led to frequent dredging to remove excess sediment and protect this vital resource. However, it is unsustainable to continue dredging the harbor without also addressing the sources of upstream sediment within the Warroad River watershed.
Washington County Department of Public Health and Environment seeks to continue a 100% cost share assistance well sealing program. County residents rely on groundwater for 100% of their drinking water. Sealing unused wells has long been a priority for the county, as they are a potential threat to health, safety, and the environment. The presence of several groundwater contamination areas only highlights the need to seal off these unused wells.
As part of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA's) watershed monitoring Approach, the Washington Conservation District will collect water quality samples on three lakes in the Lower St. Croix River Watershed in 2019-20; Comfort Lake, Square Lake, and Big Marine Lake. Rural and agricultural land uses are major components of all three lakes' subwatersheds and semi-urban land use is present in the Comfort lake subwatershed.
This provides a project manager to work with regulated parties to identify new or more efficient ways of meeting standards at wastewater treatment facilities (municipal and industrial).
Brown's Creek Watershed District, City of Stillwater and Oak Glen Golf Course will work together to harvest and reuse stormwater for golf course irrigation, reducing thermal loading to Brown?s Creek, a designated trout stream listed as impaired due to high thermal and total suspended solids loading, and reduce phosphorous loading to Lake St. Croix, impaired for excess nutrients. The primary goals are to reduce phosphorous loading to Brown?s Creek and the St. Croix River/Lake St Croix by 67-124 pounds per year and thermal loading to Brown?s Creek by 0.4 degrees Celsius.
The Red River is impaired for turbidity. The level of turbidity is a significant factor in the cost of treatment of drinking water by the City of Moorhead. This water quality improvement project involves the retrofit of Clay County Ditches 9, 32, and 33 just south of the city. The project involves the installation of an estimated 87 side inlet sediment controls and 35 acres of buffer strips. All three of these ditch systems with over 16 miles of County Ditch will be treated for sediment and erosion control with the installation of conservation practices.
The Big Sandy Area Lakes Watershed Management Project has developed innovative projects to protect and improve water quality, wildlife, and the fishery resources in the Big Sandy Lake Watershed since 1991. Projects have focused on the main ecological problems and sources of nutrient loading to Big Sandy and other watershed lakes. A Clean Water Fund Grant provided funding for nine demonstration projects that continue this work. Projects planned for this area focus on controlling shoreline erosion and overland runoff that carries soil and nutrients to the lakes.
This project will collect water samples at seventeen monitoring locations ranging in size from 23,173 acres (7 Mile Creek) to over 9 million acres (Minnesota River at St. Peter) as a part of the Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN). The Minnesota State University - Water Resources Center (WRC) has been directly involved with the program and is familiar with the streams and hydrology of the region. In addition to monitoring, the WRC will review, manage and submit the data in formats provided by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
Tetra Tech will work to support the science needed when planning in Minnesota for water storage practice implementation. The goal is to provide practical water storage recommendations that can be incorporated into smaller scale planning within major watersheds (HUC 8), as well as larger scale planning for the Sediment Reduction Strategy for the Minnesota River and South Metro Mississippi River.
The Metropolitan Council was awarded $1,500,000 from Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment funds for a Water Efficiency Grant Program during the Minnesota Legislature's 2023 Session. The Metropolitan Council (Council) implemented a water efficiency grant program effective July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2026. Grants were awarded on a competitive basis to municipalities that are served by a municipal water system. The Council provides 80% of the program cost; the municipality must provide the remaining 20%.
The goal of this project is to develop guidance for water quality parameter evaluation and calibration for Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) applications focused on dissolved oxygen (D.O.), nutrient, and algal simulation, along with a demonstration of the guidance by step-by-step application to D.O.-impaired Minnesota watersheds.
This is a joint project between the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), North Dakota, and Manitoba. The project is a basin-wide, up-to-date water quality trend analysis using the "QWTrend" program for approximately 40 bi-national river sites to review nutrients, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, sulfate and chloride from 1980 - 2015.
This project targets one of Chisago County's few remaining large dairy operations. It is situated on the top of the St. Croix River escarpment and drains over the bluff to the St. Croix River. This project includes installation of several practices in the feedlot area, including critical area planting to help stabilize a gully formed through the feedlot. There are also two other gullies located at the edge of fields or pasture areas that will be stabilized using water and sediment control structures, grade stabilization practices, or diversions.
This program supports communities as they plan and implement projects that address emerging drinking water supply threats. It supports the exploration cost-effective regional and sub-regional solutions, leverages inter-jurisdictional coordination, and prevents overuse and degradation of groundwater resources.
Activities in this program provide metro communities with:
This initiative is for the design and implementation of projects in Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), or other state administered lands that increase water storage while also stabilizing streambanks in impaired watersheds where watershed restoration and protection strategies or comprehensive watershed management plans developed under the One Watershed, One Plan program have identified the need for water storage and water quality improvements.
Vermilion Community College will assist the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) with meeting the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) development objectives of collecting data and completing watershed assessments for the Rainy River Headwaters, Vermilion River, and Little Fork River watersheds. Services will include providing support for field water monitoring, other field sampling and measurements and related field data management, analysis, and assessments in these watersheds.
There are several models and tools that State agencies, university staff, and local government staff utilize to measure outcomes for pollution reduction benefits in agricultural watersheds in Minnesota. The mechanisms and scales at which these tools are built on are slightly to drastically different.
The Watershed Health Assessment Framework (WHAF) is a web-based tool for resource managers and others interested in the ecological health of Minnesota's watersheds. The framework uses five ecological components to organize and deliver information about watershed health conditions in Minnesota. The five components are hydrology, connectivity, biology, geomorphology, and water quality. Statewide GIS data from DNR and partner agencies are used to calculate health scores that reveal similarities and differences between watersheds.
This project delineates and maps watersheds (drainage areas) of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands for the state of Minnesota and provides watershed maps in digital form for use in geographic information systems. These maps become the basis for clean water planning and implementation efforts.
In 2009, residents from the Stradford Addition and the Avon Area Lakes Association (AALA) contacted the Stearns County SWCD with concerns of direct stormwater entering Middle Spunk Lake. The Stearns County SWCD met with representatives on site to assess the stormwater problems. Many areas of untreated stormwater that directly discharged into Middle Spunk Lake were identified. It was determined that the watershed areas within the Stradford addition should be retrofitted with best management practices capable of conveying and treating stormwater.
The DNR provides technical support related to the causes of altered hydrology and watershed management solutions. We use state-of-the-art models and statistical methods to look at cumulative impacts of drainage and land-use practices and determine the benefits of best management practices. This involves collaboration with multiple partners at multiple scales.
DNR regional clean water specialists and area hydrologists work with regional staff from other state agencies and with local partners to help identify the causes of pollution problems and determine the best strategies for fixing them. We collect and analyze stream channel stability and streambank erosion data to help identify root causes of certain water quality impairments in streams.
As Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as rain gardens and infiltration swales begin to be implemented in Chisago County, most people don't understand what they are and what their purpose is. With the dual goals of treating stormwater runoff and educating the public, the SWCD applied for and received a Clean Water Fund grant to implement several pre-designed BMPs at
This project will construct a stormwater treatment facility to treat runoff from 6,500 acre urban and agricultural drainage area in and around the City of Watkins, MN. The result is an annual phosphorus reduction of 796 pounds to Lake Betsy, the Clearwater River, and the Clearwater River Chain of Lakes.
