Open house National Water Week; Develop presentation about groundwater and purchase sand tank groundwater model; Update City zoning map, emergency plan and City ordinances; update City webpage
Reduce nitrogen fertilization and infiltration near well #6; Educate property owners about nitrate infiltration; Install lysimeters to determine level of fertilizer
The lack of sewage treatment in many small communities in Southeast Minnesota is causing surface water and groundwater pollution. Ten of these small communities will be the target of the technical assistance provided by this project. These communities have community or individual straight pipes which are discharging raw sewage directly into the environment, surfacing sewage, or have sewage contaminating groundwater.
Partner Organizations: Kasson Alliance for Restoration, Mantorville Restoration Association, Friends of Mayowood, Denmark Township Historical Society, Friends of Saint Rose, Preservation Lake City, County Historical Societies, Red Wing Downtown Main Street, Winona Main Street, Winona Area Chamber of Commerce, Faribault Main Street, and Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism
PAM will work to provide its partners with staff support, administration, supervision, and additional preservation and planning expertise.
Minnesota’s 12 regional public library systems, which encompass 350 public libraries in all areas of the state, benefit from a portion of the Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Through State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, each regional public library system receives a formula-driven allocation from the annual $3 million Minnesota Regional Library Legacy Grant.
Minnesota’s extensive state park and trail system, the second oldest in the country, is currently comprised of a total of 76 state parks and recreation areas and 13 state trails scattered throughout the state. Some of Minnesota’s state parks and trails have privately owned lands within the designated park boundaries or trail corridors. Purchase of these lands from willing landowners for addition to the state park and trail system makes them permanently available for public recreation and enjoyment and facilitates more efficient management.
This project will generate water quality data for 10 stream locations MPCA designated for their 2012 and 2013 open-water sampling seasons (8 by NRRI-UMD and 2 via subcontract to the North St. Louis SWCD). The overall project goal is to collect event-based physical and chemical data sets for 10 agency-prioritized stream sampling sites in NE Minnesota for calculating pollutant loads and for incorporation into the overall State database for MPCA assessment purposes.
A new GIS technician will help prioritize and target conservation activities and protection strategies in nine north-central Minnesota counties. The GIS technician will create GIS products, assessments, and watershed analysis to identify the high priority areas in each County or watershed in need of protection or restoration using all available data, including LiDAR, soils, land use, completed WRAPS and other datasets. These areas will then be targeted for future resource management efforts, Clean Water Fund projects, and additional conservation activities.
This project represents the third septic inventory effort by Todd County. The four lakes included - Guernsey, Juergans, Little Sauk, and Long Lakes - are all designated by the Sauk River Water District's Sauk Lake Management Unit as high priority for water quality improvement. Three of these lakes are listed as water quality-impaired for nutrients and the fourth - Long Lake - has had periodic e.Coli problems documented in several tributaries. This project will allow Todd County to expand on previous evaluations of 13 other lakes.
In 2005, Metropolitan Council was directed to carry out regional water supply planning activities under Minnesota Statutes, section 473.1565. Working closely with the region's many water supply stakeholders and under the guidance of both policy and a technical water supply advisory committees, Metropolitan Council supports regional groundwater planning and analysis in order to respond to emerging regional water supply issues and achieve sustainable water supplies.
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.
Over the past 100 years, about half of Minnesota’s original 22 million acres of wetlands have been drained or filled. Some regions of the State have lost more than 90 percent of their original wetlands. The National Wetland Inventory, a program initiated in the 1970s, is an important tool used at all levels of government and by private industry, non-profit organizations, and private landowners for wetland regulation and management, land management and conservation planning, environmental impact assessment, and natural resource inventories.
State law charges the Metropolitan Council (Council) with developing and maintaining a base of technical information needed for sound water supply decisions (Minnesota Statutes 473.1565). The Council’s primary tool to provide this information is the Metro Model 2, a regional groundwater model capable of predicting the impacts of planned water demand on aquifers and connected lakes and streams. The Metro Model 2 is a modern and comprehensive groundwater model of the Twin Cities area, but it is currently out-of-date.
The goal of this project is the completion of an Upper Mississippi River Bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and Protection Plan. In addition, an Implementation Plan will be developed and finalized under this contract.
The Cannon River is a designated Wild and Scenic River that originates in Rice County and joins the Mississippi River 120 miles downstream near Red Wing. The Upper Cannon, which encompasses 29% of the entire watershed, has been identified as a priority subwatershed.
The VRWJPO is pursuing a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) project in cooperation with the MPCA in order to better identify the sources of stress and impairment to the river, tributaries, and lakes and evaluate the feasibility of reaching water quality goals, and properly allocating pollution reduction goals to those areas identified as likely pollution sources. Successful restoration and protection outcomes are dependent on successful community building and ownership of both the problems and solutions identified in the WRAPS.
The goal is to develop the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) and a public and stakeholder participation process that encourages local involvement in water quality discussions and solutions, identifying impaired waters, developing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs); and planning, setting priorities, and implementing the WRAPS recommendation to restore impaired waters. Phase II of the WRAPS will consists of developing TMDLs for the impaired reaches as well as developing the final WRAPS document and implementation planning.
The Metropolitan Council, in conjunction with CDM Smith and HKGi consultants, reorganized and expanded the water conservation tools on the water supply planning pages of the Metropolitan Council’s website. The revised toolbox was organized into an online, web-based guide format. These tools are supplemented with fact sheets and case studies that serve to educate and provide useful information to support water conservation programs and activities.
This program supports communities as they plan and implement projects that address emerging drinking water supply threats. It supports the exploration cost-effective regional and sub-regional solutions, leverages inter-jurisdictional coordination, and prevents overuse and degradation of groundwater resources.
The West Central Technical Service Area (WCTSA) serves 12 Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) in west central Minnesota and has been experiencing increased workload due to greater requests from member SWCDs. This funding will sustain a limited-term technician and purchase related support equipment to assist landowners in implementing targeted, high priority practices that result in the greatest water quality outcomes.
The Carver County Historical Society website (www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org) was completely redesigned to reflect the community expressed need for the ability to research local history. This included, newspaper indexing, photo research, plat maps/GIS, historic properties, National Register information, and local resources.
The surveys sent to member reinforced their desire to be able to research online. More than 90% of respondents asked for access to research photos. Another 80% asked for plat map access.
Fourteen conservation easements were completed by this program resulting in the protection of 1,962 acres of high quality wetland and associated upland habitat complexes and 78,596 feet (approximately 15 miles) of shoreland along priority lakes and rivers in west-central Minnesota. This program exceeded by 862 acres the amount proposed for the grant. Total leverage through donated easements by landowners is estimated at $1,209,700, all in excess of that proposed.
This project builds on the successful implementation of previous work, installing 29 water and sediment control basins and 25 acres of vegetative filter strips within the priority Marsh Creek watershed to reduce sediment loading into the Wild Rice River, which is currently not meeting water quality standards for sediment.
