The MPCA expects to open this year’s Federal Section 319 funding
round sometime after Jan. 1. Again this year stakeholder meetings have
been scheduled in several MPCA offices to provide better assistance and
understanding of the Clean
Water Partnership loan and Section 319 funding processes to interested
parties:
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Tuesday, November 29, 9:30 a.m.: Rochester
MPCA office, 18
Wood Lake Drive S.E., Rochester, MN 55904 (free parking in office lot and on
street).
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Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2:30 p.m.: Mankato MPCA office, 12 Civic Center Plaza,
Suite 2165, Mankato, MN 56001 (parking for a
fee in ramp and on street). This meeting will also be available via Web-ex with
details posted later.
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Wednesday, Nov. 30, 9 a.m.: Marshall MPCA office, 504 Fairgrounds Road,
Suite 200, Marshall, MN 56258 (free parking in lot across the street).
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Thursday, Dec. 8, 12:30 p.m.: Brainerd MPCA office, 7678 College Road, Suite
105, Baxter, MN 56425 (free parking available in office
lot). This meeting will also be available by videoconference at the MPCA
offices in Duluth and Detroit Lakes, as well as by Web-ex.
A presentation in St. Paul has not been scheduled yet.
Please email Pete Fastner of the MPCA (peter.fastner@state.mn.us)
if you have further questions.
The MPCA invites comments through Dec. 14 on a
proposal to improve fish and vegetative habitat in the St. Louis River at 40th
Avenue West in Duluth. The project requires dredging about 350,000 cubic yards
of clean sediment from the navigation channel and strategically placing it to
restore 317 acres in an area affected by a century of industrial activity and
shoreline alterations.
This is a collaborative effort between the
MPCA and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Project details are included in a draft
Environmental Assessment Worksheet, which the MPCA will use to decide
whether a more complete Environmental Impact Statement is needed.
The worksheet covers site location details,
nearby resources, and other environmental factors. These include land use,
soils, water resources, existing sites with contamination, fish, wildlife,
plant communities, sensitive ecological resources, historic properties, air and
noise levels, and traffic.
Comments on the worksheet, which must be in
writing, are due by 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 14 to Patrice Jensen, MPCA, 520 Lafayette
Road N., Saint Paul, MN 55155 or patrice.jensen@state.mn.us.
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The MPCA invites comments through Dec. 16 on a
draft
permit to
address groundwater and surface water pollution from the tailings basin at U.S.
Steel’s Minntac Iron Ore Operations near Mountain Iron in northern Minnesota.
U.S. Steel mines, crushes, and
processes iron-containing rock into taconite pellets at its Minntac facility. The
crushed rock remaining after the iron is removed and the process water are
disposed of in a large, aboveground impoundment called a tailings basin. This
water and any precipitation that contacts the tailings are considered
industrial wastewater, which is regulated by MPCA permits.
Taconite processing requires a lot
of water, and the basin serves as a reservoir for water used in the plant. The basin
covers roughly 8,000 acres and is located in the Rainy River watershed and two
sub-watersheds within the Rainy system: Sand River to the east of the basin and
Dark River to the west.
Water leaves the basin by seeping
out the lower sides of the basin walls and through the bottom of the basin,
impacting nearby streams and groundwater.
The draft permit includes
requirements for the industrial wastewater that seeps or flows from the Minntac
tailings basin:
- Sulfate limits in the basin pool
water
- Water quality limits for additional
pollutants
- Expanded monitoring of pollutants in
nearby surface and groundwater
- Toxicity testing
-
Collection of all shallow surface seepage
- Dates and schedules to reduce
pollutants that seep to groundwater to levels that will protect the waters
impacted by the facility
Comments, which must
be in writing, should go to: Erik Smith,
MPCA, 520 Lafayette Rd. North,St. Paul, MN 55155 or erik.smith@state.mn.us. Comments must
include a statement of your interest in the draft permit, the specific action
you wish the MPCA to take, and reasons supporting your position.
For more information, see the MPCA fact
sheet on the draft permit.
Related media stories:
The MPCA recently
approved the Watershed
Restoration and Protection Strategies report for the Mississippi
River-Winona watershed, including the Whitewater River, in southeastern
Minnesota. An abundance of
water, beautiful scenery, and widespread public areas make this watershed a
popular destination for trout fishing, paddling, hiking, hunting, and other
outdoor recreation. Whitewater State Park draws about 300,000 visitors
annually.
This area of
Minnesota is vulnerable to pollution because of its karst landscape. In karst,
only a thin layer of soil covers the porous bedrock underneath and allows
pollutants on the land to easily reach groundwater used for drinking.
The main issues for restoring the Whitewater River
and other tributaries to the Mississippi in this watershed, which is mainly used
for farming, include:
- Reducing nitrate levels that can be harmful to human and
environmental health via fertilizer applications and losses from cropland
- Reducing sediment loss from upland areas and stabilizing flood
plains, terraces and streambanks, especially on the main branch of the
Whitewater River
- Determining why bacteria concentrations remain high in many
streams despite numerous efforts at reduction
- Addressing physical habitat issues that are hurting fish and
other aquatic life
Many areas in this watershed provide high-quality
habitat for fish and other aquatic life, and need protection. Strategies that
would both help protect and restore streams throughout the watershed include
planting cover crops, installing buffers along streams, installing grassed
waterways, using contour farming, implementing water and sediment storage, and
managing crop residue.
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The MPCA recently approved
the Watershed
Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) report for the Buffalo River
watershed in northwestern Minnesota. This watershed, mostly used for
agriculture, covers more than 1,100 square miles in
portions of Clay, Becker, Wilkin and Otter Tail counties in western Minnesota.
Water quality problems in this area include:
- Excess nutrient levels that can cause algal blooms that hurt
aquatic life like fish and recreation like swimming
- Bacteria levels that can make the water unsafe for swimming
-
Sediment – soil and other matter -- that clouds the water
and may make it unsuitable for aquatic life and recreation
The
poor water quality conditions reflect the intensely farmed landscape, human
changes to hydrology, intensive drainage, and lack of buffers around lakes and
streams. Restoration strategies will need to focus on reducing phosphorus,
sediment, and bacteria through livestock management, nutrient management, wind
breaks, buffers, and other best management practices.
As
the report summary says, “Pollutant reductions needed to
correct impaired waters are large and will be challenging to accomplish. A
coordinated, long term, sustained effort will be needed to both restore the
impaired waters and to protect the others from being degraded down to an
impaired condition.”
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The Audubon Center of the
North Woods in Sandstone is hosting Water/Ways, a traveling exhibit from the
Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program. The exhibit will run through
Dec. 31 with a New Year’s Eve dinner and
presentation on the final day.
Visiting groups can book a
tour and lesson. Hours for drop by visitors vary; please check the website.
Water/Ways reveals the
central nature of water on our lives by exploring how Americans use water, how
water unites communities, how water affects every element of life, and how
Americans care for our water and protect this valuable resource.
As Governor Mark Dayton
mentioned in his 2016 Water Summit speech, “We have critical water quality
problems in Minnesota . . . we cannot ignore them. We have to face up to them
and work together, to solve them.” Water/Ways addresses water resource issues
while seeking active solutions to real water problems in the host communities
and our state.
Explore
this collection of stories about water to learn more about the community in
and around Sandstone.
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The Minnesota
Association of Watershed Districts will hold its annual meeting Dec. 1-3 in
Alexandria. Program
topics include stormwater treatment, addressing increased flows in the
Minnesota River, One Watershed One Plan, new approaches to TMDL studies, and
updates to the Minnesota Public Drainage Manual. See details on the association website.
Various programs of the MPCA will be represented at the trade show of the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts convention
Dec. 4-6. The main trade show occurs on Monday, Dec. 5. A new feature
this year will occur Tuesday, Dec. 6, the "Conservation Information
Fair" from 7:30 a.m. to noon. Businesses and agencies participating in
the fair "will have the opportunity to meet with the award-winning
landowners, farmers, sportsmen, and conservation leaders from around the
state." The MPCA will be participating in both events.
In
the past, MPCA programs represented in the Monday trade show included
feedots, construction stormwater, citizen monitoring, subsurface sewage
treatment systems, nutrient reduction strategy, and Watershed
Restoration and Protection Strategies. The convention program includes
business meeting, awards, and a variety of concurrent education
sessions. The Minnesota Association of Soil and Water
Conservation Districts represents the 89 soil and water conservation
districts of Minnesota.
Canoe
veteran and author Dave Lind will present his view of the Zumbro River, Thursday,
Dec. 8, at 6:30 p.m. in Rochester. Using
photos and maps, Lind will take the audience down the main stem from Zumbro
Falls to the Mississippi River as well as travels on the North, Middle and
South forks, a total of 182 miles of river canoeing and kayaking routes, including
both routes covered by outfitters as well as many less traveled routes.
Discover how the Zumbro has changed over the years and how the increase in
recreational canoeing, kayaking, and fishing is changing how people view the
river.
This talk is part of
the Zumbro Watershed Partnership’s “Water Ways” Speaker Series that takes place
the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Cascade Meadow Wetland
and Environmental Science Center in Rochester. For more information, contact
ZWP Education Coordinator Kevin Strauss at education@zumbrowatershed.org or at
507-993-3411.
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The University of Minnesota is accepting applications for the Watershed Specialist Training spring 2017 session: Jan. 17-April 30. The training is designed to help staff from
SWCDs, WDs, tribes, counties, and cities strengthen their ability to protect
water resources. It is entirely online so you save travel costs and interact
with professionals from around the state. Gain practical skills to apply immediately and to build your career. Learn
about:
- assessing
the community and stakeholders to more effectively engage them in
problem-solving,
- identifying
social and physical data needs so you can design a monitoring or evaluation
program,
- writing a
communication strategy and effectively getting your message across to
diverse audiences,
- justifying
implementation activities that will best address the local water resource
issues, and
- pulling it
all together into a work plan that could be used for a grant proposal.
For more information contact Ann Lewandowski, WST Program Coordinator, University of Minnesota Water Resources Center, St. Paul, MN, 612-624-6765.
The MPCA website
will be under maintenance and offline starting Friday, Dec. 9 at 3 p.m.
All web-based services will be unavailable until Monday Dec. 12. If you use the
MPCA website, web-based applications or
e-Services, these will be unavailable from Dec. 9-12. The MPCA recommends
finishing any required business before Dec. 9.
If you have questions,
please contact public information officer Cathy Rofshus at the email or phone
number below.
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