WaterFront Bulletin for November 2011

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency sent this bulletin at 11/09/2011 09:40 AM CST

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November 2011

Clean Water Partnership grants due Dec. 30

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is accepting proposals for Clean Water Partnership (CWP) grant and loan funding.

Proposals will be accepted from local governmental units interested in leading a nonpoint source pollution control project to protect or improve water bodies.

Priority funding will be given to projects preventing degradation of unimpaired waters.

Grants available for water quality projects

For a project to be considered a protection/prevention project, proposers will need to document that the water body(ies) being addressed:

Is currently meeting state water quality standards for a particular pollutant of concern; or
Has not been assessed but is known to be supporting beneficial uses.

The MPCA expects to grant about $1.2 million for grants and about $5 million for loans this year.

Eligible applicants for CWP grants and loans include watershed districts, tribal authorities, cities and counties, joint powers organizations and watershed management organizations. Due to CWP statute changes in the last legislative session, soil and water conservation districts are now eligible to directly sponsor a CWP proposal.

The MPCA will accept two types of proposals:

Resource investigation projects that monitor, assess and develop a diagnostic study on the status of a water body(ies), and also develop an implementation plan to address the needs of the water body(ies). Resource investigation projects are only eligible for grant funding.
Implementation projects that implement activities identified by a comprehensive assessment and planning process in the watershed or around the water body of concern. Such assessment must consist of an MPCA-approved CWP diagnostic study/ implementation plan, an EPA-approved Total Maximum Daily Load study/ implementation plan or an equivalent diagnostic study and implementation plan. Implementation projects are eligible for both grant and/or loan funding.

There is a $300,000 limit on each grant funding request. There is no limit for a loan request.

The due date for proposals is 4:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 30. Proposals and questions must be sent electronically to the CWP Proposal Mailbox: CWP.Grant.PCA@ state.mn.us.

CWP Grants will be administered via a standard three-year grant agreement. Proposers who are awarded funds will be able to begin project work as early as the spring of 2012. For more information, see the CWP Resource Investigation and Implementation Projects information on the MPCA website.

Outdoor heritage council to recommend $97 million in funding

The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council recently voted to recommend funding for 30 programs totaling $97.4 million to the 2012 Minnesota Legislature. The council, which recommends projects for Legacy Amendment funding to the Legislature, chose the 30 programs from a total of 43 proposals that totaled more than $207 million in funding requests. To see which projects made it to the recommendation round, go to the council’s website.

Minnesota-Crow watershed network event Nov. 15

The fall semi-annual meeting of the Minnesota River Basin-Crow River watershed professionals network will be held 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, at the Pizza Ranch in Redwood Falls. The event includes presentations on current topics of interest to local watershed staff, and the opportunity for informal networking.

Civic engagement and funding lead the list of topics. Scott Kudelka of the MSU Water Resources Center, and Denise Stromme of the MPCA, will offer a definition of civic engagement, and some specific examples. A panel with Board of Water and Soil Resources staff, Jerad Bach of the Blue Earth SWCD, and other project staff will discuss funding sources and processes. Brett Arne of the Pomme de Terre Watershed District will review a report on the recently-completed intensive Pomme de Terre watershed study.

The event will wrap up with informal updates and news from watershed organizations and agencies. The watershed network helps facilitate communication among watershed staff. This will be the sixth meeting since the project began in spring 2009. More information is available on the watershed network webpage.

Le Sueur River study: Peak flow management key to reducing erosion

Managing peak flows in the Le Sueur River watershed will be key to reducing erosion at its source, according to the final report for “An Integrated Sediment Budget for the Le Sueur River Basin,” a four-year project funded by the MPCA and the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED).

The geological history of the Le Sueur watershed leaves it primed for erosion. Even before European settlement, the Le Sueur’s three main branches were major contributors of sediment to the main part of the Minnesota River – about 60,000 metric tons a year.

Since European settlement, that amount has increased to 225,000 metric tons per year. That increase derives from changes in land surface, vegetation and hydrology.

“Effective management will require a combination of actions to reduce erosion at its source and more effectively control the physical drivers of erosion, requiring management of peak flows. If only sediment sources are addressed, management actions will risk addressing the symptom but not a dominant causal factor. As high flows in the river are the underlying, systemic driver of near-channel erosion, increased water retention in uplands will reduce sediment loads over the long-term and can help mitigate on-going and future changes in precipitation,” the project report says.

A discussion of the LeSueur River sediment budget study is on the agenda for the Nov. 18 policy-technical committee meeting of the Greater Blue Earth River Basin Alliance (GBERBA).

Also at the meeting, Bob Finely of the MPCA will preview the TMDL reports for the South Metro Mississippi, Minnesota River and Greater Blue Earth River, following by small groups discussions on implementation topics.

Intensive water monitoring: Some waters healthy, some suffering

The MPCA recently released watershed monitoring and assessment reports for the Little Fork, Pomme de Terre, and Sauk River watersheds. Conditions in the Little Fork Watershed were found to be quite good, while more problems were discovered in the Sauk and Pomme de Terre watersheds.

Comprehensive monitoring of the Pomme de Terre River Watershed began in 2007, and of the Little Fork and Sauk River watersheds in 2008. The focus for all three was to characterize the fish, macroinvertebrate, habitat and water chemistry of the river and streams in the watershed and water chemistry in lakes.

The quality of water resources overall was very good in the Little Fork River Watershed, a tributary system to the Rainy River in northern Minnesota. However, mercury levels in fish tissue suggest limiting aquatic consumption in many of the streams and turbidity levels were elevated in some streams.

At left is a 40-inch musky found by MPCA staff.

The majority of streams in the Sauk River Watershed do not fully support aquatic life or recreation. Concerns include low dissolved oxygen levels, high bacteria concentrations and nutrient levels. One bright spot was the Pearl Lake subwatershed, which offers relatively good conditions for aquatic life.

At right is a trout found by MPCA staff.

The Pomme de Terre watershed, located in the west-central part of the state, has some of the best water quality within the Minnesota River Basin. However, there is still need for improvement as many streams and lakes are impaired for aquatic life, aquatic recreation, and aquatic consumption. Concerns include low dissolved oxygen levels, high bacteria concentrations and nutrient levels.

With dollars provided by the Clean Water Fund (from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment), the MPCA conducts and oversees a variety of surface-water-monitoring activities that support its mission of helping Minnesotans protect the environment. To succeed in preventing and addressing problems, good information is needed about the status of Minnesota’s waters, potential and actual threats, options for addressing the threats, and data on how effective management actions have been. The MPCA’s monitoring efforts are focused on providing that critical information. These three reports are the first of about 80 that will be produced during the next decade for all of Minnesota’s major watersheds.

Zumbro watershed report on public notice

The MPCA invites comments on a draft report concerning the water quality of 17 stream sections in the Zumbro River watershed in southeast Minnesota. Comments will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. Nov. 23.

Residents may attend a public meeting on the report on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 3 p.m. at the Cascade Meadow Wetlands and Environmental Science Center, hosted by the Zumbro Watershed Partnership.

These stream sections suffer from excess turbidity, meaning the water may be too cloudy to support aquatic life such as fish

This report, known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report, is part of a nationwide effort to clean up pollution in lakes and streams.

The purpose of the report is to examine impaired water bodies, identify the sources of the problem, and specify changes needed to return conditions to an acceptable level. After reviewing comments from the public and obtaining approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the MPCA and local organizations will work out a plan for improving the clarity of the streams.

For more information or to submit comments, contact Justin Watkins by email justin.watkins@state.mn.us, phone 507-206-2621, fax 507-280-5513, or MPCA, 18 Wood Lake Drive SE, Rochester, MN 55904.

To learn more about the Zumbro River Watershed, visit the MPCA’s website.

TMDLs approved for Pomme de Terre watershed, lakes in south metro area

The U.S. EPA approved the TMDL report for Pomme de Terre watershed, impaired by turbidity, on Sept. 21, and the TMDL report for Crystal, Keller, Lee and Earley lakes in the Twin Cities area on Sept. 30.

There is one section of river in the Pomme de Terre River watershed, located in west-central Minnesota, that is impaired for turbidity. The reach is located in the lower portion of the Pomme de Terre River from Muddy Creek to Marsh Lake.

Crystal, Keller, Lee, and Earley lakes are located in the southern Twin Cities metro area in the cities of Burnsville, Lakeville, and Apple Valley. Excess phosphorus from stormwater runoff creates poor water quality conditions in the lakes, leading to summer algal blooms that limit lake recreational activities such as swimming.

The next step for both projects is to develop implementation plans for restoration.

Annual watershed district conference Dec. 1-3

The Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts 2011 40th Annual Meeting and Trade Show will be held Dec. 1-3 in Alexandria at the Arrowwood Conference Center, offering several seminars for watershed district officials, staff and key watershed district partners. Registration can be completed online and is due Nov 18. The registration fee of $180 per person includes all conference meals.

Annual SWCD association conference Dec. 4-6

The Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts Annual Convention and Trade Show will be Dec. 4-6 in Bloomington, at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel. This year’s theme is “75 Years of Conservation Leadership” and includes seminars on a variety of topics, from SCWD history to urban stormwater to Discovery Farms. Registration available online.

Subscriptions and submissions welcome

WaterFront is a web-based bulletin featuring updates on impaired waters, watershed project funding and water restoration and protection activities underway throughout the state. WaterFront is published to share information with internal MPCA staff and external watershed partners.

The MPCA welcomes submissions from partners about funding opportunities, projects updates and upcoming events. Email submissions to catherine.rofshus@state.mn.us. Please note that the MPCA has switched to a new service, called GovDelivery, to deliver the WaterFront Bulletin. To ensure delivery of these messages, please add mpca@public.govdelivery.com to your address book or safe sender list.

Subscribe to WaterFront via Email Alerts, available at www.pca.state.mn.us/waterfront.

Cathy Rofshus

Public Information Officer

MPCA-Rochester-Mankato

507-206-2608

catherine.rofshus@state.mn.us

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