Inflow and infiltration were once big problems for the small town of Good Thunder in Blue Earth County in southern Minnesota. By being persistent and working as a team, city councilors and staff were able to take advantage of opportunities and detect major sources of I & I.

The town of 583 people has a pond system designed to treat an average of 50,000 gallons per day (gpd) of wastewater, and up to 85,000 gpd during wet weather. But a large rain event or spring thaw would result in 300,000 gpd going through the system. That meant many discharges to the Maple River during the spring and fall to keep up with the overload. It also meant extra expenses for Good Thunder and a lot of worry for Brian Severns, wastewater operator for the town.

In the last year, Good Thunder has decreased its influent flow by more than half, saving the town money through:

• Less water flowing through the drinking water and wastewater treatment systems
• Fewer hours of staff time managing the system
• Less need for pumping, meaning reduced wear on equipment and lower electrical costs
• Avoiding the cost of buying land and building a new pond to accommodate the hydraulic overload

 “It saves me a lot of worry at night,” Severns added with a laugh.

The town took a multi-faceted approach to solving the problem.

When the state of Minnesota reconstructed Highway 66 that runs along the eastern edge of Good Thunder, it recommended replacing or lining the town’s sewer main. The town chose lining and that stopped the major source of I & I to the pond system.

Good Thunder also worked with the Minnesota Rural Water Association to look for leaks in its drinking water lines. It found many small and one big residential leaks that, once corrected, dramatically dropped the amount of water being treated and pumped for drinking as well as the water flowing to the wastewater system for treatment.

In addition, the town inspected sump pump systems, contracted a company to inspect the sewer lines with cameras, and educated residents and businesses on I & I issues through newsletters and utility bill messages.

“Even though we got the big stuff, we’re going after the little stuff,” Severns said.

Instead of discharging the ponds twice in the spring and three times in the fall, he is hoping that drops to one per spring and per fall. That’s good news for the river too because a longer retention time means a bigger reduction in phosphorus levels in the discharges.

Severns has sound advice for other cities tackling I & I problems:

• Provide the city council with a visualization of the data behind the problem. Using an Excel spreadsheet, Severns tracked rainfall, drinking water pumped from the town’s well, and water influent to the wastewater system.  He then provided a bar graph of the data to the city council every month so it could visualize the problem and see progress with each step taken.
• Educate residents and businesses on the importance of I & I.
• Use cameras to look for leaks in pipes.
• Take a team approach with the city council and maintenance staff. Severns credits Good Thunder’s maintenance worker, Brian Beckel, with doing much of the work.
• Take advantage of Minnesota Rural Water Association resources. Severns called this association “essential” to the problem-solving.

“Patience is a virtue because sometimes it takes a lot of detective work to fix. By doing due diligence, you’ll figure it out,” he said.

The 20-year projected need for wastewater infrastructure throughout Minnesota is almost $5 billion, up from $4.2 billion two years earlier, according to a community survey.

State law requires the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to conduct a community Wastewater Infrastructure Needs Survey (WINS) every 2 years. The agency received responses from 715 communities in June 2017, and the resulting data and full report can be found on the MPCA website.

The $4.99 billion includes:

• $2.9 billion (58%) to fix aging and inadequate piping and pumping systems
• $1.3 billion (26%) to maintain and upgrade treatment systems to meet minimum water quality requirements
• $225 million (5%) to upgrade treatment systems to meet advanced water quality requirements
• $522 million (10%) for new piping and pumping systems, such as for municipal growth
• $51.5 million (1%) for undefined projects

Key points from the data include:

• The need for sewer system rehabilitation and upgrade ($3.43 billion) is much greater than wastewater treatment infrastructure work ($1.57 billion).
• The age of sewer and wastewater treatment infrastructure continues to be a significant issue. A high percentage of sewer and wastewater treatment systems are near the limit of their expected useful life.
• In greater Minnesota, 20% of the treatment facilities are more than 40 years old and 32% of the sewer systems are more than 50 years old.
• Small communities more frequently struggle with affordability of infrastructure improvements. In the most recent survey, 19% of communities with populations less than 1,500 reported unaffordable wastewater costs.

The next WINS survey will be sent electronically to communities in the spring of 2019, and the data will be used to complete the 2020 WINS Report. If you have any questions about the WINS Report or data, please contact Cara Omana of the MPCA at cara.omana@state.mn.us or 651-757-2891.

An administrative law judge recently rejected the MPCA’s proposed changes to the standard to protect wild rice. The existing rule (or standard) limits sulfate to 10 milligrams per liter in water used for the production of wild rice. However, the MPCA’s new research indicates that sulfide – converted from sulfate by bacteria -  in the sediment in which wild rice grows is the pollutant of concern. The proposed rules are designed to limit sulfide to 120 micrograms per liter. The proposed changes would have established a process to identify the level of sulfate that would be protective for each wild rice water body. The proposal would have also identified wild rice waters in Minnesota.

The MPCA is now evaluating all available options following the ruling.

“While we are disappointed with the ALJ disapprovals in the report, we are pleased that the ALJ agreed the proposed revisions were based on sound scientific evidence,” the agency said in a statement issued to media.

“At the Legislature’s direction, the MPCA worked diligently for nearly seven years to craft a modern, workable rule that would protect wild rice from the impacts of sulfate pollution. We strongly believe that those efforts delivered a solution that would effectively protect this important resource, while providing a workable standard for businesses and industries that would be impacted by these regulations.

“Significant input, including 4,500 public comments received through a 93-day open public comment period and six public hearings, informed numerous appropriate adjustments to the proposed rule revision. 

“In light of the ALJ report, MPCA now intends to proceed with the rule revision process, as prescribed by Minnesota state law. We will first submit a comprehensive written response to the ALJ report. The Chief ALJ will then review our response and determine if the modified proposal is acceptable. We believe this exchange can lead all parties to a workable solution, and we remain strongly committed to achieving that ideal outcome.

“The Minnesota Legislature shares a keen interest in this matter and we look forward to working with legislators and the public as we continue to refine an improved rule proposal.”

Related media coverage:

• Judge rejects change to Minnesota's wild rice water standard on Minnesota Public Radio
• Judge throws out Minnesota proposal intended to protect wild rice in the StarTribune

The MPCA is pleased to announce that Aaron Luckstein has accepted the position of municipal wastewater section manager, previously held by Wendy Turri, who is now the wastewater superintendent for the Rochester (Minn.) Water Reclamation Plant.

Luckstein has served many roles within the MPCA wastewater program since 2006, including wastewater inspector, permit writer, assistant pretreatment coordinator, and supervisor. From 2012 to 2016, he served as the southeast regional unit supervisor and most recently as the supervisor for the Industrial Wastewater Quality Compliance and Enforcement Unit.

In his roles, Luckstein has become known as a consistently calm and visionary leader with a commitment to staff development and program growth by using continuous improvement strategies that create a solid foundation; establishing Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely goals and objectives; developing clear implementation strategies, and providing motivational support for the team.

He also places an emphasis on developing effective professional relationships between the state, federal and local governments, permit holders, public interest groups and Minnesotans.

In his free time, Luckstein enjoys spending time with family and friends, fishing, and playing basketball. Like many parents, he stays busy chauffeuring his kids to and from sporting events and cheering them on in their sports.

He can be reached at aaron.luckstein@state.mn.us or 507-206-2606.

All municipal and industrial staff who are responsible for submitting eDMRs for their wastewater facility should have his or her own eServices account. The MPCA recommends not sharing account numbers for liability purposes. See the “How to complete your discharge monitoring report” webpage for “eDMR signup and submittal” information.

Additionally, if previously authorized individuals need to be removed from an account, please submit the "Request to Remove Account Holder" form on the MPCA website.

If you have other questions about eDMRs, please consult your compliance officer.

Stormwater trading

Regulated stormwater sources, such as cities with municipal permits, may also seeking trading because urban best management practices (BMPs) can be much more expensive than farming or other BMPs. Cities may be able to meet TMDL requirements through non-point trades or offsets to reduce sediment, phosphorus or even bacteria. (Photo at right shows a streambank restoration project for wastewater treatment credit.)

Anti-degradation trading

Pollutant reduction credits may be used to offset increased pollutant loads resulting from the construction and operation of new or expanded wastewater or stormwater discharges. Minnesota’s antidegradation regulations specifically allow for a “loading offset” as a prudent and feasible alternative to avoid net increases in loading or other cause of degradation (Minn. R. Ch. 7050.028 Subp. 2).

Impact of River Eutrophication Standards (RES)

All trading activity must occur upstream of the waterbody of concern in order to achieve water quality objectives. Existing trading relationships that have been developed to address remote water quality concerns may be disrupted if new water quality assessments result in the designation of relevant water quality targets between an upstream buyer and a downstream seller. Impacted relationships may include Lake Pepin’s excess nutrients or the Lower Minnesota River low dissolved oxygen impairments. An example of this situation is the current Minnesota River Basin General Phosphorus permit trading relationship between a buyer in the Redwood River watershed and a seller in the Middle Minnesota River watershed. The longstanding trading relationship is intended to benefit the dissolved oxygen impairment of the Lower Minnesota River. However, the MPCA listed the outlet reach of the Redwood River in 2016 as impaired for excess nutrients. So now the buyer will need to reduce phosphorus loading within the Redwood River watershed, either by reducing effluent loading or through trading or a combination of the two. Because the phosphorus reductions required within the Redwood River watershed are sufficient to satisfy the reductions requirements for the Lower Minnesota River, it is unlikely that the existing trading relationship will continue in the future.

Contact

For more information about water quality trading, contact Marco Graziani at the MPCA at 651-757- 2398 or marco.graziani@state.mn.us.