This project will gather watershed data necessary for the development of a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report to maintain and improve water quality for the St Louis River Watershed.
This project will revise a recently completed draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report for the Lower Minnesota River Watershed Project. The revision is to correct wasteload allocations for regulated stormwater entities.
The Rice Creek Watershed District is proposing to improve water quality and habitat in Locke Lake and Lower Rice Creek by stabilizing stream banks and bluffs on Lower Rice Creek, reducing in-stream erosion and sediment delivery to Locke Lake, and improving in-stream habitat complexity for fish and invertebrates. Eleven bank stabilization practices would be installed over a continuous 5,400-foot reach in Lower Rice Creek. The anticipated outcome of this project is the prevention of 2,874 tons per year of sediment, which is 58% of the sediment reduction goals for Lower Rice Creek.
The Lower Mississippi River Feedlot Management in MN project will be leveraging State funding from BWSR to provide match for a United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) Regional Conservations Partners Program (RCPP). BWSR will provide technical and financial assistance to plan and design projects to mitigate feedlot runoff from smaller (less than 300 animal units or AUs*), open lot feedlots in southeastern Minnesota.
The goal of this project is to develop draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) computations for six impaired lakes and two impaired streams, and to provide TMDL development documentation for selected draft TMDL report sections.
This project addresses six lakes that have aquatic recreation impairments and one creek reach that has a bacteria impairment for E. coli. The project will evaluate the water quality impairments, complete pollutant source assessments, and establish loading capacities and allocations for the impairments.
On behalf of the Metropolitan Council, the Minnesota Geological Survey evaluated the vulnerability of glacial aquifers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The project improved upon previous vulnerability assessments by incorporating a substantial amount of new aquifer property information and blending methods previously used by the Minnesota Departments of Health and Natural Resources. The result is a consistent vulnerability assessment across the metropolitan area based on the most up-to-date information available.
The Kohlman Lake nutrient reduction study identified a major source of phosphorus loading from the impervious areas like roads, roofs and parking lots within the watershed.. Within this area, one major land use feature stands out - Maplewood Mall. Retrofitting the Mall parking areas to infiltrate at least one inch of stormwater runoff will result in a large reduction in phosphorus to Kohlman Creek and the lake.
The Kohlman Lake TMDL calls for the reduction of nutrients from watershed and in-lake loading. A major source of phosphorus loading is from the impervious areas in the District (roads, interstates, roofs, and parking lots). In the analysis of the Kohlman Lake watershed, one major land use feature stands out - Maplewood Mall. The District identified that retrofitting the Mall parking areas to infiltrate at least one inch of runoff would result in a large reduction in phosphorus to Kohlman Creek and the lake.
Martin Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is proposing to monitor six lakes sites and two stream sites in the Blue Earth River watershed. The lake sites will be monitored by kayak and the stream sites will be monitored from the shore. Sites will be analyzed for field conditions and water chemistry. Martin SWCD will subcontract with Faribault SWCD to monitor fourteen stream sites and with Blue Earth SWCD to monitor one lake site and three stream sites.
The Master Water Stewards (MWS) program will install pollution prevention projects on both residential and commercial properties and educate citizens in their neighborhoods to reduce urban runoff and nutrient loads. Community leaders who have been identified, educated and certified as Stewards, will lead projects.
Capitol Region Watershed District and the City of St. Paul seek to improve the water quality of stormwater runoff to Como Lake in St. Paul and reuse stormwater to displace potable water use at the McMurray Fields complex within Como Regional Park. The project partners propose the construction of a stormwater reuse and infiltration system that will treat the stormwater volume equivalent of 1.1 inches over the impervious surface of the subwatershed, or 4.9 acre-feet. The drainage area to the proposed system is 130 acres, with 54 acres of impervious surfaces.
It is critical to train new staff, create modeling protocols for new BMPs, refine and calibrate models, and test ever-advancing modeling applications. The Metro Conservation District?s (MCD) Sub-Watershed Analysis (SWA) program provides these capacity-building services and unites efforts across 11 SWCDs. MCD proposes to analyze an additional 15 subwatersheds. The analyses will identify the location and estimated cost/benefit relationship for BMPs, evolve with new technology, and share discoveries metro-wide.
Through a long standing partnership, this project will continue to implement a process formalized with a 2010 Clean Water Fund Grant to conduct stormwater sub-watershed assessments. The goal of the sub-watershed assessments is to accelerate water quality improvements by focusing efforts in high priority areas. Specifically, subwatershed assessments are a tool used to identify the most effective urban stormwater conservation practice by location.
This project will establish a groundwater monitoring network in the 11 county metropolitan area. The network will provide information about aquifer characteristics and natural water trends by monitoring healthy aquifers (non-stressed systems). The project will also develop an automated system that captures groundwater level and water use data. This system will enhance evaluation of changes in aquifers that are stressed by pumping from existing wells.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) forms the core of a long-term program designed to measure and compare regional differences and trends in pollutant loadings from Minnesota’s mainstem rivers and the outlets of major watersheds and subwatersheds draining to these rivers.
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 primary goal of this project is to develop a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) lead comprehensive Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) report to be used on the local level. Achieving this goal will require sound working relationships between local units of government, citizens, and state government. The Lakes Engagement Team will gather input from these groups and contribute towards the creation of a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report that can be utilized by local decision-makers.
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 goal of this project is to design and install two watershed interpretive signs: one to be placed at Minneopa State Park and one at Fort Ridgely State Park to inform the public about watershed, water quality issues, and how someone can improve water quality.
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.
