Peer Engineering, Inc. (Peer) will evaluate and recommend to MPCA groundwater monitoring staff prospective sites/locations for the installation of groundwater monitoring wells to evaluate contaminant/pollutant concentrations from various sources. Peer will oversee the installation of monitoring wells by retaining a state drilling contractor or preparing bid documents to retain well driller through the Department of Administration. Superfund staff will assist in the project by providing oversight of contractual requirements and provide technical assistance as needed.
This project involves the extension and update of the Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) model for the Bois de Sioux and Mustinka watersheds.
This project will address United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comments on the preliminary draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) comments on the pre-public notice draft TMDL study and Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report, and produce the public notice draft TMDL study and the public notice draft WRAPS report ready for public review and comment. Conduct one public meeting for each watershed to present public notice drafts of the TMDL study and WRAPS report for each watershed.
This project will guide local implementation planning efforts by identifying water quality goals, strategies, and implementation milestones in the Cedar River Watershed. This watershed includes 435 square miles in major portions of Mower, Freeborn and Dodge Counties, and incudes the regional center of Austin. A Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report will be completed by this effort.
This project is for the Cedar River Watershed, which includes major portions of Mower, Freeborn and Dodge Counties in southern Minnesota. The scope of this project is to complete the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies for 11 stream reaches with sediment impairments, and 14 stream reaches for bacteria impairments. The major product of this effort will be the final Cedar River TMDL report, which will be submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and public-noticed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
There are two main goals of this Cedar Basin HSPF project,
A. Overall development of the HSPF model in the Cedar Basin of Minnesota; and
B. Shell Rock River nutrient, DO , impairment modeling and TMDL completion.
The Buffalo River Watershed Pilot Project is one of two pilots in Minnesota designed to develop a watershed approach for managing Minnesota’s surface waters. The goal of this project is to develop a plan that will guide surface water quality management throughout the watershed.
This project will identify and compile existing nitrate data from groundwaters and surface waters in the Lower Mississippi Basin (LMB) generally and focus on the Root River Watershed. The purpose is to investigate the quantity and quality of existing nitrate data, and to organize it for use in comprehensive watershed strategy development (including assessment, TMDL computation and identification and study of nitrate sources and delivery mechanisms).
This project will build upon existing planning and implementation efforts already taken on in the project area. The collection of existing information will be used to complement water information in support of a more successful and sustainable water quality improvement and protection implementation program. This will be achieved by active civic engagement activities throughout Phase I of this project.
This project will complete an implementation plan, as required by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, for the Zumbro River turbidity TMDL project. It will also revise the Zumbro River Watershed Management Plan (completed 2007) to ensure it continues to reflect local needs, incorporates new information, and develops more effective linkages with related local, state and federal government programs.
This project will study the geologic controls on nitrate transport in southeast Minnesota's karst landscape and will also provide datasets for other projects over time.
This project will complete the development of two watershed HSPF models for the Mustinka River and Bois de Sioux River watersheds. These calibrated and validated executable models will simulate hydrology at the 12-digit HUC subbasin scale.
This project will identify areas for potential Best Management Practice (BMP) placement and identify strategies to strengthen social capacity and effectively engage citizens in development of the upcoming Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report.
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.
The goal of this project is to analyze and document database architecture, platform, table structures, systems and data fields at six Minnesota agencies (Board of Soil and Water Resources, Department of Natural Resources, MN Department of Agriculture, MN Department of Health, Metropolitan Council, and MN Pollution Control Agency) for 30+ databases related to water.
This project will determine the condition of the water bodies in the Otter Tail River watershed, initiate public participation in the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) development process, begin identification of potential stressors and priority management areas within the watershed, and begin development of initial drafts of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study and WRAPS report.
The goal of this project is to complete the construction, calibration, and validation of a Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for the Otter Tail River watershed. The contractor will produce an HSPF model that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Studies. The model will generate predicted output for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen that is consistent with observed data.
International Water Institute (IWI) staff will monitor 24 sites in the Bois de Sioux, Mustinka (2 sites), Buffalo (8 sites), Red Lake (4 sites), Sandhill (3 sites), Thief (2 sites), and Tamarac River (3 sites) Watersheds intensively over a 2 year period in an attempt to collect 25 samples per year at each site. If conditions allow for the collection of all planned samples, 1200 stream samples will be collected over the time period. Monitoring will include field measurements, observations, and at least three photographs during each site visit.
The goal of this project is to engage citizens in local watershed monitoring, work with regional partners to promote understanding and protection of watersheds, and organize and facilitate gathering of scientific data for the benefit of water quality in the Red River Basin.
TMDL project in the Root River Watershed that will support surface water assessment, analysis of data, interpretation of southeast Minnesota's karst landscape, stressor identification, TMDL computation, source assessment, and implementation planning.
The goal of this project is to complete the construction, calibration, and validation of an Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for the Minnesota portions of three watersheds: Root River, Upper Iowa, and Mississippi River-Reno.
The goal of this project is to investigate nitrate transport and the sources of nitrate in karst for more effective implementation of best management practices that will reduce nitrate concentrations in ground and surface water.
This goal of this project is the completion of a Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for the Upper Red River watershed in the Red River Basin. This includes the construction, calibration, and validation of the model for hydrology and water quality parameters.
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.
