Having trouble viewing this message? View it as a webpage. 

April 2017

• Don't get caught with your silt fence down!
• Industrial stormwater training
• MN Stormwater Manual: New in construction stormwater
• MN stormwater blog
• Stormwater info on What's in my Neighborhood
• 2016 inspections and enforcement
• MPCA research updates
• Stormwater Manual webinars
• Input on construction stormwater general permit
• Minimal impact design standards (MIDS) update

Don't get caught with your silt fence down!

Have you got a rain or snowmelt problem? Both active and inactive construction sites must be inspected when they get rain or snowmelt runoff. Maintenance inspections must be completed within 24 hours of these events or within 24 hours of resuming the construction (whichever comes first). Inspection checklist:  Are perimeter silt fences, biologs, and other BMPs retaining sediment on site? Check for tears, knock downs, and breaches. Remove the buildup, if sediment has reached half the height of the BMP. Repair, replace, or supplement any BMPs that are no longer functional. Are the erosion control blankets or mulch effective? Mulch should provide at least 90% soil coverage. If not, replenish it. Replace or repair torn blankets, or supplement them. Repair or replace inadequate inlet protection and remove any sediment build up. Remove any sediment accumulated in surface waters, including ditches, drainage ways, conveyance systems, or catch basins. Check vehicle entrance BMPs. Repair, replace, or supplement those that are not preventing tracking from an active site. Remove any sediment accumulated in streets, curbs, and gutters. All nonfunctional BMPs must be repaired, replaced, or supplemented by the end of the next business day after discovery, or as soon as field conditions allow access. Sediment accumulations must be removed from surface waters within seven days of discovery or of obtaining access, if precluded by legal, regulatory, or physical access constraints. Tracked sediment must be removed from paved surfaces within 24 hours of discovery or sooner. The Minnesota Stormwater Manual contains useful information on erosion and sediment control practices.

Industrial stormwater training

Sign up early for the next industrial stormwater training workshop: May 10, 2017, at the MNDOT Training Facility in Arden Hills. This half-day session will address SWPPP modifications due to benchmark monitoring test result exceedances. For additional information or to register, please visit the U of M Erosion and Stormwater Management Certification Program’s web site. U of M workshops fill up early, so register soon.

MN Stormwater Manual: New in construction stormwater

We continue to make progress migrating information from Chapter 6 of the PDF-based Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual, affectionately known as The Blue Book, to the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. This chapter of the Blue Book addresses erosion prevention and sediment control. As we migrate the information, we are updating it, too. We've created new pages in the manual for five prevention practices and six sediment control practices. Each of these pages contains information on applicability, effectiveness, design, inspection and maintenance, and costs for specific BMPs. At the same time, we're updating the Construction Stormwater page in the manual. We've also created photo galleries, added dozens of guidance documents, and added a section on general principles for erosion prevention and sediment control. We anticipate doing additional work starting this summer.

MN stormwater blog

MPCA’s stormwater section now has a blog to address specific stormwater topics in a condensed and timely manner. Some recent posts: The Dirt on Soil Infiltration Determining soil infiltration rates for your infiltration practice Soil borings are not boring

Stormwater info on What's in my Neighborhood

The MPCA’s What’s In My Neighborhood application has been helping people find environmental information for nearly 15 years. You can search by location to find contaminated sites, environmental permit holders, air emissions, wastewater discharges, and solid or hazardous waste activities in Minnesota.

An updated version of the application shows construction stormwater and industrial stormwater permits, as well as MS4 municipalities. It's a convenient way to access all sorts of environmental information. Check it out!

2016 inspections and enforcement

MPCA stormwater staff were busy in 2016 protecting Minnesota’s water resources! In the construction stormwater program, inspectors: Inspected more than 400 construction sites -- These include routine inspections and complaint follow-ups. As an EPA-delegated state permitting authority, the MPCA must inspect construction stormwater sites that disturb more than one acre of land. Received approximately 100 complaints from the public. Carried out roughly 50 enforcement actions. Both inspections and enforcement actions are valuable tools to educate the regulated community on best management practices and to help prevent pollutants from entering surface water. In the municipal stormwater program, staff: Conducted nearly 30 audits of regulated MS4 programs. These were routine audits also required by the EPA. Completed more than 25 enforcement actions, the results of audit findings or failures to submit required documents. Partnered with the Minnesota Erosion Control Association on three MS4 permit workshops to assist public entities in complying with their permits and developing successful programs. MPCA, municipal, and private sector presenters provided training on inspecting construction sites, MS4 systems and facilities, and illicit discharges. The workshops are continuing in 2017, in Willmar on April 26 and Rogers on October 25. For more information or to register, see the MECA web site or the workshop flyer.

MPCA research updates

NOTE: The Minnesota Research Council has released the 2017 request for proposals to conduct stormwater research.

MPCA continues to work on several stormwater research projects, with a few projects wrapping up in 2017:

Iron-enhanced sand filters (IESFs) — MPCA worked with the City of Minneapolis, City of Prior Lake, and the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District (RWMWD) to study the effectiveness of five metro-area IESFs. The Minneapolis project’s lab analysis is complete, with preliminary data analysis ongoing. We extended the RWMWD and Prior Lake projects through 2017 for additional sampling. Barr Engineering is a new partner on the RWMWD project, which will result in additional analyses at this Maplewood Mall site, plus similar data from a roadside IESF that Barr is monitoring. MPCA will eventually develop summary reports for all studied IESFs.

Infiltration monitoring —The University of Minnesota is partnering on a project (principal is Dr. John Nieber) monitoring three infiltration systems; it will wrap up in April. In our partnership with the Capitol Region Watershed District, we are extending sampling at Upper Villa Park through 2018 and adding another underground infiltration site (the Midway Stadium redevelopment location). Both projects assess pollutant loading, transport, and removal within and in the unsaturated zones beneath infiltration BMPs.

Stormwater contaminants of emerging concern and bioeffects — MPCA and several partners are investigating contaminant of emerging concern in metro area stormwater conveyances and iron-enhanced sand filters. We also measured changes to aquatic organisms’ behavior, mortality, reproduction, and RNA transcription due to exposure to treated and untreated stormwater. Of more than 400 commercial/industrial/residential chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and breakdown products tested, approximately 130 were detected in at least one stormwater sample (although often at low concentration). The report will provide comparative context for the detections, compare the biological and chemical outcomes to assess the impact of observed contaminants, and assess the effectiveness of full-scale iron-enhanced sand filters at mitigating these impacts.

Daphnia ecotoxicogenomics method development and calibration — Researchers are investigating the utility of a daphnia-based transcriptomics tool as part of MPCA's water quality monitoring efforts. The test matrices are stormwater and wetland samples. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) extracted from exposed daphnids were sequenced to generate a full “transcriptosome” for each treatment group. Transcriptosomes can then be compared to determine the number and function of differentially expressed genes between various groups and controls. Paired with chemical and biological outcome data, transcriptomics has the potential to pinpoint chemical “causes” and the molecular mechanisms of observed whole-organism toxicity. Characterizing these “adverse outcome pathways” is crucial to understanding sources and optimal mitigation strategies of aquatic impairments, which commonly occur in complex systems that may be very difficult to sort out.

Infiltration in roadside swales: Long-term field testing — In 2016, MPCA partnered with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to test a water balance-based field method to assess swale infiltration performance in natural conditions. In 2017, we plan to implement this study design at four or five additional swale sites. Monitoring is planned through 2017-2018. Monitored and modeled data will be used to develop refined swale water budgets, to calibrate swale models, and to compare results with commonly available models and calculators, including the recently developed Minnesota Dry Swale Calculator (UMN/MNDOT) and the Minimal Impact Design Standards Calculator.

Stormwater research priorities and pond maintenance — This project is being conducted by the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Extension, with the MPCA Stormwater Program serving as the state's technical liaison. This project will address high-priority issues related to stormwater pond performance and maintenance, including phosphorus dynamics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons distribution and bioavailability. This project will also produce a 10-year framework of stormwater research needs, and provide for education and training to disseminate the results.

For more detailed information on these projects, visit the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. Please contact David Fairbairn with any questions or input.

Stormwater Manual webinars

MPCA stormwater staff and consultants recently hosted three webinars on new content in the Stormwater Manual.

Infiltration practices (Dec. 15), presented by Mike Trojan and Anne Gelbmann (MPCA) and Greg Wilson (Barr Engineering) -- covered infiltration basins, infiltrations trenches, underground infiltration and dry wells, and understanding and interpreting soils and soil boring reports 

Stormwater harvest and use/reuse (Jan. 25), presented by Mike Trojan and Anne Gelbmann and Meghan Funke and Brett Emmons (EOR) -- covered design elements, construction sequencing, and operation and maintenance of harvest and use/reuse systems

Minimal Impact Design Standards (MIDS) calculator updates (March 15), presented by Mike Trojan -- showed recent updates to the calculator which included example applications and a tour of the supporting information in the Stormwater Manual.  The webinar also focused on using the new underground infiltration, harvest, impervious surface disconnection BMPs. 

The webinars were recorded and available for viewing on the Stormwater Manual webinars page. Thanks to all who attended the webinars and completed the survey.  We received many great ideas and plan to use them to improve future webinars. Watch the Events page in the Stormwater Manual or sign up for GovDelivery messages. 

Funding webinar -- A recording of the annual funding workshop/webinar is also available for you to view, and the PowerPoint presentations are on the funding page. Sources of stormwater-project funding include:

• Clean Water Fund (Projects and Practices and Accelerated Implementation)
• Clean Water Partnership loans and 319 grants
• State Revolving Fund, Point Source Implementation grants
• Metropolitan Council stormwater grants

Input on construction stormwater general permit

The MPCA is getting closer to having a final draft construction stormwater general  permit ready for public comment. We'ill be soliciting input prior to the official public comment period on selected pieces of the draft permit, using the Stormwater Manual as a forum for collecting comments. Opportunities for comment will be publicized in this newsletter, other email messages, and on the construction stormwater web pages.

Minimal impact design standards (MIDS) update

The Middle St. Croix Watershed Management Organization recently published a report on the work they have been doing with communities to protect stormwater runoff from entering the St. Croix River. "St. Croix Communities Clean Water Project:  Integrating Minimal Impact Design Standards into Local Ordinances" is now available on the Middle St. Croix Watershed Management Organization's web site. Eight communities updated their ordinances to include MIDS: Bayport, Baytown Township, Lake St. Croix Beach, Lakeland Shores, Oak Park Heights, St. Mary’s Point, and West Lakeland Township. Four additional communities participated in the project but have not yet updated their ordinances: Afton, Forest Lake, Stillwater, and Washington County. 

If your community has adopted the MIDS Community Assistance Package and are not listed in the Minnesota Stormwater Manual, please contact Anne Gelbmann.

Newsletter contact

If you have questions about or suggestions for this newsletter, contact Anne Gelbmann, MPCA-St. Paul, 651-757-2384