This project will provide condition monitoring and problem investigation monitoring at the following sites. Mississippi River: Tributaries include Bassett Creek, Cannon River, Crow River, and Minnehaha Creek. Minnesota River: Tributaries include Eagle Creek, Riley Creek, and Willow Creek. St. Croix River: Tributary includes Valley Creek.
This project is to create a contact strategy for community/landowner opportunities, obstacles, and opinions on land management and water quality that will result in the identification of restoration and protection strategies for the Minnesota River Mankato watershed in Redwood, Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood and LeSueur Counties.
The Cannon River Watershed includes approximately 941,000 acres of primarily agricultural landscape. Because of its large size, four subwatershed lobes are often referenced: Straight River Watershed, Upper Cannon River Watershed, Middle Cannon River Watershed, and the Lower Cannon River Watershed. Rice County is proposing utilizing LiDAR topographic data to determine areas of highest importance for Best Management Practice (BMP) Implementation for sediment within the Middle and Lower Cannon subwatersheds.
The purpose of this monitoring project is to maintain water quality data collection, build upon existing data for Phase II of the Intensive Watershed Monitoring approach, and develop a better understanding of what impacts the rivers located in central Minnesota specifically in the North Fork Crow Watershed.
The Middle Fork Zumbro River Critical Source Area Restoration Clean Water Fund grant will focus on the implementation of six to eight of the 23 identified and ranked sediment reducing conservation practices identified in two targeted sub-watersheds of the Middle Fork Zumbro River. These six to eight projects will work towards achieving an estimated 49-96 tons of TSS to the impaired Middle Fork Zumbro River and are imperative to the health of the Middle Fork Zumbro River and Lake Zumbro.
The purpose of this project is to conduct a subwatershed assessment of that part of the City of Minneapolis that is within the Shingle Creek watershed. This subwatershed drains to three Impaired Waters: Crystal Lake, Ryan Lake, and Shingle Creek. The assessment will identify the most feasible and cost-effective best management practices for retrofit in this densely urban, fully developed subwatershed. The project includes workshops with neighborhood organizations to help them educate residents and organize implementation projects.
This project will complete an EPA- and MPCA-approved TMDL Study and an MPCA-approved TMDL Implementation Plan that provide quantitative pollutant load reduction estimates and a set of pollutant reduction and watershed management strategies to achieve water quality standards for all impairments within the watershed, that are understood and adoptable by local units of government and other stakeholders.
The City of St. Louis Park, in partnership with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, is proposing to re-meander a portion of the creek using funding provided through the Clean Water Fund. The affected section of Minnehaha Creek was straightened when development first came to St. Louis Park in the early 1900s. At that time, wetlands were filled and the stream channel was
altered to allow for industrial development around the creek.
Both Minnehaha Creek and Lake Hiawatha are on the State Impaired Waters List and have had Total Maximum Daily Load Studies completed. The proposed work would focus on park land along Minnehaha Creek which is a highly-recreated corridor with public trail systems throughout. In 2014, the District experienced record flooding resulting in substantial erosion and tree loss along Minnehaha Creek. In 2015, the District completed an assessment of flood damage and received FEMA funding for bank repair at 31 sites along the Creek within Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board property.
This project addresses twelve lakes that have aquatic recreation impairments as identified by eutrophication indicators and 53 impairments on 45 stream reaches in the Minnesota River Mankato and Watonwan River watersheds. The project will develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) addressing impaired lakes and streams in the Minnesota River–Mankato and Watonwan River watersheds. A TMDL establishes the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed in a waterbody and serves as the starting point or planning tool for restoring water quality.
The goal of this project is to extend existing Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models through 2017 for the following major watersheds: Redwood, Cottonwood, Watonwan, Blue Earth, Le Sueur, Pomme de Terre, Minnesota River-Headwaters, and Lac Qui Parle watersheds.
Mankato State University (MSU) will work with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to plan a stakeholder process kick off meeting for the Minnesota River Ag/Urban partnership project. MSU will help to plan and facilitate the meeting.
This project addresses five reaches of the Minnesota River that have aquatic recreation impairments as identified by high concentrations of E. coli. The project will describe the water quality impairments, complete pollutant source assessments, establish loading capacities and allocations for the impairments, and develop implementation strategies.
This project will create a high accuracy elevation dataset - critical for effectively planning and implementing water quality projects - for the state of Minnesota using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and geospatial mapping technologies. Although some areas of the state have been mapped previously, many counties remain unmapped or have insufficient or inadequate data. This multi-year project, to be completed in 2012, is a collaborative effort of Minnesota's Digital Elevation Committee and partners with county surveyors to ensure accuracy with ground-truthing.
A 5.8-mile shoreline assessment completed in Summer 2020 along the Mississippi River shoreline in Brooklyn Park comprehensively surveyed erosion issues and identified numerous riverfronts severely eroding into the river, contributing significant sediment and nutrient loads. The report catalogued these properties and identified a set of properties west of Banfill Island as the most critical and cost-effective for restoration.
The goal of this project is to simulate up to ten scenarios using the recently completed Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model for the Mississippi River–Lake Pepin (MRLP) watershed. The mode will be used to investigate a variety of management scenarios to support further planning work and implementation in the watershed. Model scenarios are being developed to inform 1W1P planning activities and future implementation.
This project will build a working watershed SWAT model that can readily be used by the MPCA to provide information to support conventional parameter TMDLs and to identify critical areas for BMP installation/evaluation that can be supported by the efforts of the local Farmer Led Council as well as other land owners within the Mississippi River-Winona watershed.
This project will investigate the effects of different farming practices on soil health and nitrogen loss in a minimally tilled, corn-soybean farming rotation in Southeast Minnesota. The project area is a roughly 20 acre, pattern tiled field that will be split into two fields of nearly equal sizes. This will be a paired comparison of a control field and a treatment field where cover crops will be employed. Nitrogen loss will be monitored via two tile control structures and routine collection and analysis of tile water.
Whitewater Watershed Project will work in coordination with Winona County, Root River (Houston County) Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), and Wabasha County SWCD to collect water quality and chemistry parameters on eight Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) approved stream sites and two lake sites within the Mississippi River Winona/La Crescent watershed during the 2020-2021 sampling season. Parameters to be tested include: TSS, TP, Chloride, CaCO3 (hardness), E. Coli, Chl - a corrected for Pheo, hardness, specific conductance, clarity, temperature, pH, DO.
The goal of this project is to complete the construction, calibration, and validation of a Hydrological Simulation Program – FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for a portion of the Mississippi River-Lake Pepin watershed.
This project will address Step 2b in the Watershed approach process and computation of TMDLS for those impaired waters determined to be in need of them.
This project proposes utilizing a precision conservation framework to assess two small impaired agricultural watersheds (HUC12) to determine optimal locations of best management practices and structures on the landscape that will address local water quality issues in a more strategic manner. The watershed assessment process will create GIS-generated maps that will be available to local SWCD staff that will inform decision-making for interested landowners.
The DNR has been charged by the legislature to develop rules that protect and manage the Mississippi River Corridor Critical Area (MRCCA) for natural resource, economic development, transportation, historic preservation, and other values. This project engages stakeholder groups in a public process to balance regulatory protections with local flexibility and control.
The Riley-Purgatory-Bluff-Creek Watershed District and the City of Eden Prairie are working together to implement projects to remove Mitchell Lake from the impaired waters list. One key emerging issue is to evaluate potential internal phosphorous loading within stormwater ponds in the lakes? subwatersheds. This project will also use updated pond data from the city?s intensive pond inspection program to identify other phosphorus reduction opportunities. The proposed assessment will quantify formerly undocumented P loading to Mitchell Lake.
This purpose of this project is to evaluate the conditions of eight streams in the Cedar River Watershed and one site on the Wapsipinicon River. Monitoring will take place for two years. Mower Soil and Water Conservation District staff will collect samples following Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Intensive Watershed Monitoring (IWM) sample collection protocols and will organize and review all field and laboratory data, along with field notes and photos.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities within the described priority watersheds.
Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities.
Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities.
Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities within the described priority watersheds.
Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities within the described priority watersheds. Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support. Biological and Water Chemistry Stream Monitoring: Monitoring to assess the conditions of streams in each watershed.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, fieldwork, data management, and interpretation expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities.The ambient groundwater monitoring network describes the current condition and trends in Minnesota's groundwater quality.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, fieldwork, data management, and interpretation expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities.The ambient groundwater monitoring network describes the current condition and trends in Minnesota's groundwater quality.
This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities within the described priority watersheds. Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support. Biological and Water Chemistry Stream Monitoring: Monitoring to assess the conditions of streams in each watershed.
