This project will complete the installation of four nested wells to the Ambient Groundwater Monitoring Network and relocated one well in the City of Saint Paul. Braun Intertec will coordinate site access and oversee the well installation by a state drilling contractor.
Bartlett Lake in Koochiching County is impaired for eutrophication and has already undergone a paleolimnological study. This project will utilize the data and results of paleolimnological study to develop in-lake management strategies that, if implemented, could significantly improve the water quality of Bartlett Lake.
The Blue Earth SWCD will be monitoring 7 stream sites located in the Le Sueur River Watershed. The stream sites will be monitored at the road crossing locations via bridge, culvert or shore. Onsite conditions will be recorded, water sample readings will be taken for Secchi tube, specific conductance, temperature, pH, DO, and photos taken.
This Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) project will develop a TMDL Report and Implementation Plan defining the sources contributing to the impairments and outlining the steps necessary to bring Bluff Creek back to meeting water quality standards.
This project will develop a Final TMDL report and Implementation Plan for the Bluff Creek Watershed. The main outcomes of this project are the development of a Final TMDL Report approved by MPCA and EPA and a Final Implementation Plan approved by MPCA.
The Contractor will assist in planning and executing the regular meetings of the St. Croix River Basin Team, including providing minutes of the meetings. Assist in the functioning of the priority issue subcommittees. Respond to public notices for re-issuances of NPDES permits, EAWs and other pertinent public notices, and participate in prioritized public meetings with local governmental units and water planning organizations.
This project will provide additional monitoring data to be utilized in the watershed assessment process for the Le Sueur River Watershed Project. Blue Earth County SWCD will provide a technician to complete the water sampling for the sampling years 2011 and 2012 on the Maple River.
This project will support the design and construction of three rain gardens to intercept and infiltrate stormwater runoff near the Fridley Middle School.
This project will reduce nutrient loadings to Sand Creek from the neighborhoods which are the greatest contributors. Project activities include the installation of a new stormwater pond and a network of 10 strategically-placed curb-cut rain gardens.
This project will quantify and qualify the effectiveness of herbicide treatments and native plant re-establishment at Duck Lake through systematic vegetative surveys pre and post herbicide application and following mid-summer die-off of curly-leaf pondweed. The data and analysis will ultimately be used in the development of TMDLs, implementation and protection strategies for other lakes in the Middle Minnesota Major Watershed.
This project will remove accumulated sediment from two Stormwater Treatment Ponds in Circle Pines that were constructed in the 1970’s. Recent testing of the sediments indicates that Tier 2 and 3 PAH compounds were found in the sediment. The most recent estimate for the volume of material that will be removed is 2,400 Cubic Yards.
This project will construct, calibrate, and validate two Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed models. The consultant will produce HSPF models that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDLs) at the Big Fork River and Little Fork River watersheds.
This project will complete spatial and temporal revisions of 6 Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models, the recalibration and validation of 7 watershed HSPF models, and the revision of the drainage network and point source representation of the Pomme de Terre HSPF model.
Itasca SWCD will work with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as a collaborative effort to monitor the Big Fork River near Bigfork at State Highway 6 and Big Fork River near Craigsville at State Highway 6. Itasca Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) staff will strive to capture the peak, rising, and falling limbs of the hydrograph for spring run-off and significant storm events as well as base flow samples. Itasca SWCD staff will utilize local rain gauge readers, storm tracking weather services, and historical stage data to aid in making monitoring judgments.
The consultant LimnoTech will support response to Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) comments the peer review process, United States Environmental Protection Agency and public notice. They will then revise the TMDL document as needed and attend internal and external project meetings.
This project will develop an Implementation Plan for restoring Lake St. Croix and impaired waters within the contributing watershed, and protect waters currently attaining water quality standards.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is a co-sponsor and assists with a portion of the financial support for the International Rainy River-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum.
This project will initiate the process of community engagement in the LeSueur River watershed by assessing the needs and interests of the community and bringing a diverse set of stakeholders together to determine how best to foster action in improving and protecting water quality.
The Little Fork River Watershed Assessment will include the waters of the Rice River, Little Fork River, Flint Creek, Nett Lake River, Beaver Brook, Valley River, Willow River, Sturgeon River, Bear River, Dark River, and the Lost River. This Assessment will also include Little Bear Lake, Bear Lake, Thistledew Lake, Little Moose Lake, Raddison Lake, Napoleon Lake, Owen Lake, Dark Lake, Clear Lake, Long (Main) Lake, Dewey Lake, and Long (North) Lake. These lakes and streams are found throughout the Little Fork River Watershed, which spans parts of Koochiching, St. Louis and Itasca Counties.
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.
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.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will coordinate the collection of high-resolution elevation data for northeastern portion of Minnesota using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems. The geographic area of the work includes Minnesota counties of Carlton, Cook, Lake, and St. Louis Counties and that portion of Koochiching County that comprises Voyageurs National Park.
The University of Minnesota will develop effective interview questions for community watershed assessments in the Rainy River basin and provide assistance in understanding the data collected through community interviews.
The Rainy River Basin WPLMN Sampling Program will focus on watershed load monitoring in the Big Fork River, Little Fork River, Rainy River-Rainy Lake, and Vermilion River watersheds. Four total staff will work on various portions of this agreement. The main objective is for one lead sampler and one backup sampler to collect water chemistry and field parameters for eight (8) sites, annually at various flows, especially peak flows, and utilize that data to determine the amount of pollutant load into each stream system.
The overall goal of this project is to perform water quality monitoring and load calculation duties to accomplish Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network (WPLMN) monitoring efforts at the seven sites within the Redwood and Cottonwood River watersheds as well as the Minnesota River site near Morton. To accomplish this goal the requested funds will provide for technician’s time, mileage, lab costs, supplies, as well as equipment calibration and upkeep.
The Redwood River watershed is one of the last remaining watersheds to complete Cycle I of the Watershed Restoration & Protections Strategies (WRAPS) process. The scope of this project upon completion is have two reports developed; a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies report and a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the entire watershed.
The Seven Mile Creek Condition Monitoring project will maintain and build on the continuous flow and water quality data base at three stream sites and one county tile in the Seven Mile Creek watershed through the collection of approximately eighty five water samples per monitoring season in preparation for the Middle Minnesota Intensive Watershed Monitoring scheduled to begin in 2013.
This project will complete a Acetochlor Impairment Response Report. This report will combine and coordinate information relating to actions being done in direct response to the acetochlor water quality impairments with those being done and support MDA’s on-going responsibility to assure pesticides are used in a manner that does not cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.
This project will provide additional monitoring data to be utilized in the watershed assessment process for the Le Sueur River Watershed Project. Monitoring will take place for an additional year at two sites along the Maple River.
This project will identify priority management zones (PMZ), for the purposes of water quality restoration and protection, within the LeSueur River major watershed. This project is only one component of a larger effort in the LeSueur watershed to complete Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies while engaging citizens and landowners in land management planning.
This project will apply the Sunrise River watershed computer model generated under previous projects to selected scenarios of land-cover and land-management changes. The watershed model calibrated to conditions in the late 1990s will form the initial baseline against which all other model runs will be contrasted. Scenarios to be run will include changes in future land cover, agricultural practices, urban practices, and natural resource management.
This project will further assess the water quality within Brown County by monitoring its rivers, streams, ditches and other waterbodies. This project will also be working in cooperation with individual volunteers to perform grab samples and visual assessments of seven waterbodies throughout Brown County.
This project will assess the condition of ten tributary streams in the Blakeley Bluff region of Scott County. The selected tributaries all discharge directly into the the Minnesota River, which is impaired for fecal coliform and turbidity.
This project will complete a chloride management plan which will lay out a strategy for addressing chloride impacts to our surface waters for the 7-county metropolitan area. This chloride management plan will satisfy EPA requirements for impaired waters, address waters not yet listed, and develop a strategy to protect waters that are currently meeting the water quality standards.
This project will provide the MPCA and all local partners in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) the information and tools necessary to improve and/or maintain water quality with respect to chloride for the 7-county metropolitan area during the winter maintenace period.
This project will provide modeling services to support the completion of the Typo Lake and Martin Lake Excess Nutrients TMDL report. A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report quantifies pollutant levels, identifies sources of pollution, and proposes ways to bring water quality back to an acceptable level.
The purpose of this project is to gather data specific to developing a site-specific standard for phosphorus for Upper and Lower Red Lakes. These are large shallow lakes that are located in an area where no shallow lake standard exists. Because of these lakes' unique characteristics, it is believed that a site-specific standard is more appropriate than the deep lake standards that currently exist. This project will include additional chemistry and flow monitoring of tributaries to the lakes, as well as outflow of Lower Red Lake to the Red Lake River.
This project will provide the monitoring of reaches where there are data gaps, incorporate new data and analyze relevant data, identify pollutant sources, hold a stakeholder meeting, and gather information towards the future development of a Draft Restoration (TMDL) and Protection Plan.
This project will support the monitoring of reaches where there are data gaps, incorporate new data and relevant data, continue identification of pollutant sources, complete load duration curves, coordinate and encourage participation in stakeholder meetings. The information gathered during Phase IIB will be utilized towards the development of a Draft Restoration (TMDL) and Protection Plan (Plan).
This project will develop a watershed restoration plan that provides 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. It will also an important framework for civic and citizen engagement and communication, which will contribute to long-term public participation in surface water protection and restoration activities throughout the watershed.
