The goal of the project is the development of an overall strategy for reduction of turbidity/TSS, with sets of sediment reduction initiatives and actions for various sources, to address the Minnesota River Turbidity TMDL and the South Metro Mississippi River TSS TMDL.
This project will monitor six sites within the Minnesota River Basin: Hawk Creek near Maynard, Hawk Creek near Granite Falls, Beaver Creek near Beaver Falls, Yellow Medicine River near Granite Falls, Yellow Medicine River near Hanley Falls, and Spring Creek near Hanley Falls. The sites will be monitored according to MPCA’s Major Watershed Load Monitoring (WPLMN) Standard Operating Procedure, which is the procedure being followed for sites currently monitored by the Hawk Creek Watershed Project (HCWP).
This project will establish a framework and provide tools for local government and watershed projects to engage the public in a manner that will lead to water quality improvement through targeted and prioritized implementation of watershed management practices. The major components of the watershed approach that will be used for this project include; monitoring, gathering of watershed information, assessment of the data, develop of implementation strategies, and implementation of water quality protection and restoration activities.
This project will develop and organize a first- stage civic infrastructure pilot in Kanabec County, within the membership of the PICKM (Pine, Isanti, Chisago, Kanabec, and Mille-Lacs) Alliance, and with other organizations in the St. Croix Basin. The work will be grounded in the need for sustainable citizen engagement in water quality management. Civic leaders participating in this project will build their own skills for organizing people and working in partnership with Kanabec County SWCD staff and the St. Croix Basin Team to achieve water quality goals.
This project will provide baseline data through water monitoring, recording and analyzing the results of six unassessed rivers/tributaries, three unassessed lakes and five storm water outlets in the city of Mora which drain to the Snake River; promote and implement approved BMP’s.
This project will continue the offering of low-interest loans to citizens, some of whom may not be able to acquire funding otherwise, for upgrading 50 septic systems to ensure compliance with state rules. Grant funds will be used to administer the low-interest loan program.
The goal of this project is to finalize the Lake Pepin Watershed phosphorus total maximum daily load (TMDL) report by using the existing information and documentation prepared under previous contracts to prepare one TMDL report that addresses the impairments on the mainstem of the Mississippi River. Information developed to date for draft TMDLs on the Minnesota River mainstem will be documented for later use by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
This project will update sediment Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for 60-64 impaired stream reaches and provide a final TMDL report. The report will address sediment and turbidity impaired streams in the Minnesota River Watershed. TMDLs will describe the impairment in each water body and water quality targets, and will include a discussion of pollutant sources, supporting report components that document assumptions and methodologies, and TMDL equations with completed load allocations, wasteload allocations, and margin of safety for each impairment.
Minnesota Erosion Control Association (MECA) will offer three one-day training session intended to educate permittees on the requirements of the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit. The focus of these workshops will be on conducting inspections and various hot topics.
