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December 2016
Many municipal wastewater treatment facilities
(WWTFs) need to submit an annual biosolids report to both the Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA):
- This requirement applies to municipal WWTFs with a
design flow of 1 million or more gallons-per-day, or that serve 10,000 people
or more. (Note that it does NOT apply to industrial byproduct land application
facilities.)
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Facilities
that fall into the above category will need to submit the report to the MPCA by
Dec. 31, 2016 and to the EPA by Feb. 19, 2017. The report to the EPA will be
electronic. Both of these reports will be based on the cropping year.
-
For
information on the EPA reporting requirements, including tutorials, go to www.epa.gov/compliance/npdes-ereporting.
- EPA is offering training beginning Jan. 10,
2017, that will include presentations and live demonstrations. To register for
a training session, visit https://epanet.zendesk.com,
and select Training Schedule under Biosolids Permit; or go directly to epanet.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/235008088-Biosolids-Training-Schedule
The
MPCA has combined the Type IV Biosolids refresher and the Type IV Industrial By-Product
(IBP) refresher classes into the same class offering. You can sign up for any
Type IV refresher and receive your required contact hours. Upcoming Type IV
refreshers are scheduled for May 16-17 and Aug. 22-23, 2017. A Type IV
Biosolids Refresher is offered during the Annual Wastewater Operations Conference March
29-31, 2017, but will not include any specific IBP information. See the Wastewater section at www.pca.state.mn.us/about-mpca/training-events
for more information or to register.
 Join Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith for a Town
Hall Water Summit Friday,
Jan. 27, 9:45 a.m.-4 p.m., at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Registration
opens Jan. 6 with the full program is to be announced on that date.
Despite the state’s
abundance of lakes, rivers, groundwater and streams, more than 40 percent of
Minnesota’s waters are currently listed as impaired or polluted. Governor
Dayton and Lt. Governor Smith have declared a Year of Water Action to focus on
improving access to clean water across Minnesota.
They encourage all Minnesotans to take a role in protecting
our state's most precious resource for future generations. Learn more about the
Year of Water Action here.
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The MPCA will host three open houses on the wild rice sulfate standard
rulemaking in January 2017. The main purpose of the open houses is to
provide the interested public with an opportunity to learn more about the
MPCA's proposed approach for revisions to its wild rice sulfate water quality
standard before the proposed rule goes out on public notice later in
2017. MPCA staff will be available at the open houses to provide
information about the MPCA's proposed approach to protect wild rice from
sulfate, the list of proposed wild rice waters, the rulemaking schedule, and
upcoming opportunities for public comment.
Additional information about the wild rice sulfate water quality standard is
available on the MPCA's protecting
wild rice webpage.
The open houses will be held at the following times and locations:
Twin Cities
Tuesday, Jan. 17, 6-8 p.m., Dakota Lodge, Thompson County Park, 1200 Stassen Lane, West St. Paul, MN 55118
Duluth
Wednesday, Jan. 25,6:30-8:30 p.m.,Griggs Center 2nd Floor, Kirby Student Center University of
Minnesota-Duluth, 1120 Kirby Drive,Duluth, MN 55812
Map
and parking for UMD
Iron Range
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 6-8 p.m., Northeast Service Cooperative
Office, 5525 Emerald Drive, Mountain Iron, MN 55768
For more information, please
contact Patricia Engelking at pat.engelking@state.mn.us
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The city of Jordan has proposed constructing
the Jordan Southwest Interceptor, 2.53 miles of new underground sewage pipes to
provide sanitary sewer service to current and future development areas within
the city, and to areas the city anticipates annexing.
The sewer extension is designed to accommodate
the city’s projected residential and commercial growth in western and
southwestern Jordan. The sewer interceptor line will have a capacity of 13.1
million gallons a day, which accounts for both current and future needs.
The MPCA has prepared an environmental
assessment worksheet on the proposed construction to describe the project
and its potential impact on the environment. It details the construction
site(s), nearby residences, water bodies, and wells, air and odor emissions,
and more.
Comments on the worksheet must be in writing
and submitted by 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 25, 2017, to Kim Grosenheider (651-757-2170) at the MPCA, 520 Lafayette
Road N., St. Paul, MN 55155-4194.
Lanesboro is the next stop for the Smithsonian Water/Ways travelling exhibit Jan. 7 through Feb. 19. Lanesboro Arts,
Commonweal Theatre Company, Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center,
Lanesboro Museum, and Friends of the Root River are partnering to develop and
present dynamic local programs and engagement initiatives that will bring
together the storyline of the Root River Watershed. These activities will run
concurrently with the exhibits from the Smithsonian Institute and the Minnesota
Humanities Center.
Opening
day Jan. 7 begins with a “water blessing” ceremony at 3 p.m. at the Lanesboro
Dam, followed by a 4 p.m. reception at the Lanesboro Arts Exhibition Gallery.
The opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting will be at 7:30 p.m. at Commonweal
Theater. A host of special events are scheduled through Feb. 19, such as: Jan.
19-fish snow sculpture, Jan. 21-candlelight snowshoe, Feb. 4-family sled dog
day, and Feb. 16-18-H2O Ten, eight short plays about water. The entire list is
available on the Minnesota Humanities Center-Lanesboro Arts webpage. See a collection of Lanesboro water stories on the
We Are Water: Lanesboro webpage.
Water/Ways is a traveling exhibition and community
engagement initiative of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street
program. In Minnesota, Water/Ways is led by the Minnesota Humanities
Center in partnership with MPCA, Minnesota
a Historical Society, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Section of the
American Water Works Association. Previously, the exhibit visited New
London-Spicer, St. Peter, Red Wing, and Sandstone. The tour concludes Feb.
25-April 9 at Detroit Lakes.
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The MPCA held listening sessions throughout Minnesota in
October to hear concerns and comments about the permitting process from
wastewater discharge facilities. (See the special November
edition of On Point for a summary of comments.) Starting this month in On
Point, the agency will list a comment and the agency’s response.
This month’s comment: The MPCA website is very confusing.
You have to click on “water” to get to “wastewater” stuff. This should be
changed.
Agency response: The MPCA is overhauling its wastewater
webpages. While still listed under the “water” tab, the agency’s designers and
wastewater staff are working to make it easier to access information about wastewater permits. For
example, check out the new feature, “Question of the day”
in the upper right corner of the main wastewater webpage.
With tens of thousands of pages and documents on its
website, overhauling the wastewater information will be a slow process. The
MPCA welcomes suggestions – please contact Joel Peck at the phone number or email
below. Meanwhile, the agency encourages permit holders to bookmark the main
wastewater webpage: www.pca.state.mn.us/water/municipal-wastewater.
Also note that the MPCA recently updated the map of compliance
and enforcement staff by county: www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/wq-wwtp1-10.pdf.
The MPCA is holding an additional listening session for
wastewater discharge permit holders on the Iron Range Jan. 10, from 10 a.m.-1
p.m., at the Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board in Eveleth.
Contact Joel Peck, municipal liaison, at 651-757-2202 or joel.peck@state.mn.us for more information.
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