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Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) will
receive a Utility of the Future award later this month for exceptional
performance of a wastewater utility. MCES is one of 61 utilities from across
the United States, Canada and Denmark selected for the award by a partnership
of the National Assoc. of Clean Water Agencies, Water Environment Federation,
Water Environment and Reuse Foundation, and WateReuse Assoc.
Utilities were selected based upon the adoption of water
reuse, watershed stewardship, beneficial biosolids reuse, community partnering
and engagement, energy efficiency, energy generation and recovery, and nutrient
and materials recovery.
The Metropolitan Council is the regional policy-making body,
planning agency, and provider of essential services for the Twin Cities
metropolitan region in Minnesota. The Council's mission is to foster efficient
and economic growth for a prosperous region. The Environmental Services division
operates and maintains about 640 miles of regional sewers and treats up to 250
million gallons of wastewater daily at eight regional treatment plants. Serving
nearly 95% of the seven-county area population, MCES provides cost-effective
wastewater service to 108 communities.
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In response
to communities asking the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for more communication about how it develops
permits for wastewater discharges, the agency will hold listening sessions
across the state next month:
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Marshall: Tuesday, October 11, 1 to 4 p.m.,
MnDOT – District 8 office, 1800 East College Dr., Marshall, MN
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Detroit Lakes: Wednesday, October 12, 9:30 a.m. to
12:30 p.m., MPCA Detroit Lakes Regional Office, 714 Lake Ave. Suite 220,
Detroit Lakes, MN 56501
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Duluth: Monday, October 17, 9:30 a.m. to
12:30 p.m., MPCA Duluth Regional Office, 525 Lake Ave., S., Suite 400, Duluth
MN 55802
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Brainerd: Tuesday, October 18, 9 a.m. to
noon, MPCA Brainerd Regional Office, 7678 College Road, Suite 105, Baxter, MN
56425
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Rochester: Tuesday, October 25, 1 to 4 p.m.,
MPCA Rochester Regional Office, 18 Wood Lake Drive S.E., Rochester, MN 55904
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St. Paul: Wednesday, October 26, 9 a.m. to
noon, MPCA St. Paul Offices, 520 Lafayette Rd. N. St. Paul, MN 55155
These sessions will focus on the permitting process for municipal
wastewater treatment plants. Please be
sure to attend one of these sessions if you are a city administrator, wastewater
operator, elected official, or city clerk. MPCA managers and permit writers
will be on hand to listen to your concerns and answer your questions. The
agency is especially interested in:
- Do you
understand how National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits
are developed?
- How can the
MPCA improve the process?
RSVP to Joel
Peck, municipal
liaison, to reserve your seat at the table. Space is limited.
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At the request of
stakeholders, the MPCA is extending the public
comment period for the draft 2016 impaired waters list by 30 days. The
MPCA released the list on July 13, followed by a series of public meetings and
a public comment period from Aug. 1-31. The extension means the agency will now
accept written comments through Sept. 30, 2016.
The list represents an
assessment of how well lakes and streams support fishing, swimming and other
beneficial uses. Water bodies that fail to meet standards are considered
“impaired.” This assessment is mandated by federal law and requires a cleanup
study for each impaired water body.
In all, the number of
impaired Minnesota waters on the draft 2016 list totals 4,603, with 582 new
listings.
Comments, which must be in
writing, should be submitted by 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 30 to Miranda Nichols, MPCA,
520 Lafayette Rd N, St. Paul, MN 55155 (must provide a return address) or miranda.nichols@state.mn.us.
After the public comment period, the agency may make changes based on comments
and then submit the list, along with comments received and agency responses, to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval.
For details, visit the MPCA's
Impaired
Waters List webpage.
The rain was heavy, the flooding serious, and the damage to wastewater ponds
was the first of its kind in Minnesota.
The City of Willow River, with MPCA assistance, is working to repair its wastewater
ponds damaged by flooding in mid-July. MPCA staff suspect flood waters caused a
rapid rise in groundwater surrounding the secondary pond, and created a
buoyancy force strong enough to push the pond liner up in large bubbles which
tore the liner in several places.
Willow River, a city of 400 people in Pine County in northeastern Minnesota,
received 10 inches of rain in less than 48 hours July 11-12, flooding the town
and breaching the DNR dam on the river.
“This is something we’ve never seen before in Minnesota. The bubbles and
tears in the pond liner allowed the wastewater to leak into the groundwater,
which flows toward the Kettle River, but away from area drinking water wells,”
said Wendy Turri, MPCA municipal wastewater section manager.
City and MPCA inspectors found a tear near the top of the primary pond liner.
Earthen dikes surrounding both ponds were also damaged and parts of the
interior slopes slid into the ponds. The current water level in the primary
pond seems to be holding where the tear was found. This indicates that as
wastewater continues to enter the pond, it is leaking into the ground through
the visible tear.
As a result, repairs will be made to the primary pond in the coming weeks,
with help from State disaster relief funding. To do this, the wastewater in the
primary pond will be discharged into the secondary pond so the primary pond can
be repaired and operational before winter arrives. The secondary pond will be
repaired next summer. Throughout the process, the city and its consultant will
monitor ground and surface water to ensure that wastewater is not impacting
nearby residential wells and other water bodies.
More information about minimizing flood-related pollution and health risks
is available on the MPCA’s Minimizing
pollution and health risks from flooding webpage. The page includes
assistance for managing household hazardous materials, preparing heating oil
tanks for flooding, drinking water well contamination and what to do after a
flood.
Photo above: Inspectors examine damage to the liner of Willow River’s
secondary treatment pond. Photo below: Aerial photo showing large bubbles that
damaged the pond after flooding last July.
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Recent heavy rains in parts of Minnesota
emphasize the need to prepare for system overloads. Wastewater happens and
continues to happen regardless of the status of its collection and treatment
system. Unfortunately, spills, overflows, unauthorized discharges and bypasses
also happen. The steps you take if your system experiences any of these
situations will make a big difference in protecting human health, the
environment, and your facility.
First, a vocabulary refresher:
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A bypass
is the intentional diversion of a waste stream from any portion of your
treatment facility. Examples of a bypass include diverting the flow of
wastewater around a clarifier or dechlorination system. Bypass wastewater must
enter waters of the state from outfalls specifically authorized by the
facility’s permit and cannot, by law, cause an effluent limit exceedance.
Bypasses are prohibited except in rare circumstances. State Rules and Federal
Regulations provide some protection for permit holders in the event of a
bypass. Additional information is available on the MPCA website’s Scheduled
Maintenance Bypassing Review page.
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A release
is any overflow or spill of wastewater or materials to the environment. A
release is an unauthorized discharge and is prohibited. Examples include
sanitary sewer overflows from a plugged collection system or pumping untreated
wastewater out of a manhole to a nearby ditch. Unauthorized releases, such as
sanitary sewer overflows, are the most common type of event when wastewater
systems are inundated with rain/snow melt or from pump or electrical failures.
Regardless of the situation, MPCA does not
approve any release or bypass. Your response to a release or bypass of any type
of wastewater or its byproducts is outlined in your permit and summarized
below:
- Take
all reasonable steps to immediately end the release
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Immediately
upon
discovery of a release: notify the Minnesota Duty Officer:
1-800-422-0798; 651-649-5451 (metro area only)
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Recover, as quickly and thoroughly
as possible, all substances released and/or take immediate action to minimize/abate
pollution to waters of the state or potential impacts to human health
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Sample
the release for
parameters of concern, or those listed on your permit, immediately following
discovery of the release; permit holders should consult with MPCA on additional
sampling requirements
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Submit sampling results by
electronically attaching to your eDMR the Release
Sampling Report
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Plan
ahead, keep clean water out of the system, and complete proper maintenance to reduce the likelihood of a
bypass or release occurring within your system
For more specific information regarding
bypasses and releases, consult your permit or contact your MPCA
compliance and enforcement representative.
- Toolbox
for local units of government recovering from a natural disaster on the
MPCA website, including guidelines for wastewater treatment facilities during a
flood
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MnWARN is a mutual aid program whereby water,
wastewater and stormwater utilities sustaining physical damage from natural or
human-caused disasters in the Minnesota can obtain emergency assistance, in the
form of personnel,
equipment, materials and other associated services necessary to protect
the health and welfare of the utilities' customers. For more information on
joining MnWARN, call 1--800-367-6792.
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Water reuse will
be an increasingly important part of managing our water resources as demands on
our water supplies continue to grow due to population increases, urbanization,
climate change, and changes in water use. There are scattered examples of
reclaiming municipal wastewater, stormwater, and graywater systems in
Minnesota. However, those interested in reuse often run into regulatory
roadblocks, technical challenges, or lacking and inconsistent regulations and
standard practices.
An interagency
effort to develop recommendations for best practices and policies for water
reuse in Minnesota is underway. Recommendations will include both regulatory
and non-regulatory approaches to successful implementation of water reuse.
Recommendations will be published early summer of 2017.
The workgroup has
been meeting on a monthly basis since January 2016. The Water Reuse Interagency Workgroup: July
2016 Project Update
provides a brief update on the workgroup’s progress over the first six months.
The workgroup is
convening four meetings with stakeholders. Organizations were invited to
participate in the group because of their involvement with water reuse, but
anyone can participate in stakeholder meetings. The stakeholder meetings are a
unique opportunity for you and your organization to provide valuable input on
water reuse as options are being considered.
Upcoming
Stakeholder Meeting
Please attend a
water reuse stakeholder meeting Monday, Sept. 26, 2016, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the
MPCA Board Room at its St. Paul office. Please see the
project
website for more information and opportunities to provide input.
Project
Sponsors and Partners
The project is
funded by the Clean Water Fund. The workgroup is comprised of representatives
from Minnesota Departments of Agriculture, Health, Labor and Industry, and
Natural Resources; MPCA; Metropolitan Council; Plumbing Board; University of Minnesota
Water Resources Center; and Board of Water and Soil Resources. The University
of Minnesota will collect and analyze field data to support Minnesota-specific,
cold-weather climate health risk assessment.
Questions and
input may be directed to project coordinator Anita Anderson at 218-302-6143 or health.water.reuse.mn@state.mn.us.
 When completing electronic Discharge
Monitoring Reports (eDMRs), be sure to answer all the questions correctly.
“Yes, there is no discharge”
Does the above statement leave you
scratching your head? One question on eDMRs that can confuse people is the “No
Discharge” question. It may seem like you should answer this question “no”
because there is no discharge. Think of the question like this: “Is it correct
that there is no discharge to report?”
If there is discharge to
report, then you answer “no” and report the applicable data.
The MPCA is working to clarify the question on the form. In the meantime, please do the following:
- If there is No Flow or No
Discharge, the field should say "Yes."
- If there is flow or a discharge,
the field says "No," and data are reported.
Finding
report form online
If you need the form for completing a Release
Sampling Report, you can find one on the MPCA website: https://www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/wq-wwtp7-20a.doc
More
information
For more information about completing
eDMRs, visit the MPCA website at www.pca.state.mn.us/water/how-complete-your-discharge-monitoring-report-dmr
or contact your MPCA compliance
officer.
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