September 2018
Storm events present challenges for wastewater treatment
utilities every year, and this year has been no different for communities
across Minnesota. The MPCA would like to recognize the City of Mora for
investing in its wastewater infrastructure and thank its wastewater staff for
their efforts in responding to a July 2018 storm event. The combined efforts
directly contributed to environmental and human health protection.
On the morning of July 12, Mora received 8.25 inches of rain
in about 3.5 hours. Seven Mora staff members worked continuously
in response to the rain event, and as a result no sanitary sewer overflows or
releases were reported.
“Having knowledgeable and reliable staff is the main factor
to all of this. Everyone remained calm, even at times when it seemed to be
overwhelming, going above and beyond to help and accomplish what needed to be
done safely,” said Joe Kohlgraf, public works director for Mora, a city of 3,571 in central
Minnesota.
In addition to having capable staff, Mora completed a
significant wastewater infrastructure upgrade in 2017. A little more than $7 million in state funding helped finance
the upgrades, which also results in far less phosphorus in its discharge to the
Snake River.
Kohlgraf identified
three actions that kept everything up and running during the recent storm:
- New main lift station capacity. “Our old pump set up consisted of three pumps which would do about 1,600 gpm [gallons per minute] and would not have kept up to this storm event. Our three new pumps were pushing around 2,200 gpm and kept that up for the majority of the day. Without this upgrade, we would have been calling the duty officer and bypassing,” he said.
- Replaced old boat clarifiers with new clarifiers. Had the old boat clarifiers been in place, the ability to perform wastewater treatment would have likely been compromised.
- Back-up power at main lift station. The new generators would
have allowed operations to continue if the power had been out for an extended
period.
Following the storm event, Mora is continuing to focus
efforts on reducing inflow and infiltration within the collection system. “We
are currently scheduling sewer smoke testing to improve our system and pushing
our sump pump policy again to keep issues like we had in this event to a
minimum in the future,” Kohlgraf said.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) would like to thank Mora wastewater
professionals, and all statewide wastewater professionals, for their dedication
and commitment to improving the environment and enhancing human health.
Photo above right: 8.25 inches of rain in 3.5 hours flooded
streets in Mora, Minn., on July 12, but its Wastewater Treatment Facility
managed to avoid any sewage releases thanks to the dedication of staff and
recent upgrades at the facility.
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The Minnesota Rural Water Association is offering two Asset
Management Training opportunities for water and wastewater systems on Sept. 27
in Grand Rapids and Oct. 4 in Oronoco. This training is designed for operators,
city clerks and city administrators for cities with wastewater treatment
systems and populations of 10,000 and under.
Each session runs 10 a.m. – noon with lunch provided. There
is no charge to attend the training. Participants will learn how to create
their own asset management plan, with one-on-one help. Operators can receive
continuing education units.
The MPCA and Public Facilities Authority (PFA) strongly
encourage that municipal wastewater systems develop Asset Management Systems to
help manage their wastewater collection and treatment facility components.
Asset management can help communities ensure their wastewater investments are
sustainable over the long term.
For
more information on the Asset Management Training opportunities, see the
Minnesota Rural Water website at: www.mrwa.com/wf16.html.
Or call 800-367-6792.
The Minnesota Rural Water Association is also offering a
workshop on “Financing Your Community Projects” Oct. 16 in St. Cloud. The
session runs 8 a.m. - 3 p.m., and costs $125 for association members or $150
for non-members. Meeting the demands of repairing and replacing water and
wastewater infrastructure is taking its toll on many small utility systems. For
this training the association is bringing together several entities that offer
funding for small systems. The objective is to promote awareness of funding sources,
the rules, regulations, application processes, and contacts.
For more
information, see the flyer online: www.mrwa.com/Agendas/SecuringFinancing2018.pdf.
Or call 800-367-6792.
The MPCA is seeking Wastewater Treatment Facilities (WWTFs)
for a pilot project on optimizing practices to meet more restrictive phosphorus
limits without having to do costly construction projects.
Background
Lake and River Eutrophication Standards have led to new or
more restrictive phosphorous limits in many wastewater discharge permits
throughout Minnesota. While the standards will lead to cleaner lakes and
streams, they can also lead to major construction projects for WWTFs, which can
place municipalities in costly deliberations. But there may be ways to optimize
treatment to meet these new limits, without the expensive build-out scenarios.
What if, by adjusting recirculation rates, or retention times, municipalities
could comply with new limits and avoid new construction?
The MPCA plans to explore these scenarios through a pilot
project funded by the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Communities
in other states have documented their success in meeting limits through
optimizing practices, providing an example to follow. The Legislative and Citizens Commission on
Minnesota Resources, which recommends proposals for funding, also believed the
scenarios were worth exploring. It scored the MPCA’s optimization project
proposal as its second highest priority in 2017. The 2018 Legislature then
approved a $700,000 grant for the pilot project.
Beginning this fall, the MPCA will coordinate with the Minnesota
Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP), and Minnesota Rural Water Association
(MRWA) to focus efforts on about five WWTPs and 30 stabilization ponds. The
goal is to apply new knowledge to old treatment systems to maximize the
treatment potential without costly infrastructure projects.
“We think that we can find ways to get the bugs to work a
little harder and drive those Total Phosphorus numbers down, without having to
bolt something new onto Minnesota’s treatment plants,” said Joel Peck, municipal
liaison with MPCA and manager of the pilot project. “MRWA has such great
first-hand understanding of stabilization ponds, and MnTAP has a track record
of applying theory to practice for wastewater plants across the state.”
The end result will be a field guide of optimization
techniques for operators to use to meet more restrictive phosphorus limits.
“If we can solve this through process control, rather than
expensive construction projects, the people of Minnesota win, with cleaner
waters and less expensive ways to get there,” Peck said.
How to sign up for the pilot project
The MPCA, MnTAP and MRWA are looking for WWTPs and pond
systems to take part in the pilot project. There is no cost to you or your
municipality.
If you anticipate new phosphorus limits in your permits and
want to know if optimization can work for your system:
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The MPCA has great news to report. At the request of the
Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) and City of Minneapolis, the
agency recently terminated Minnesota’s last remaining Combined Sewer Overflow
(CSO) permit.
Combined sewer systems – carrying wastewater and stormwater
in the same pipe – were first used in the mid-1800s to better manage sewage
flow in urban streets. At that time, the combined sewage flowed straight into
lakes and rivers. Cities added wastewater treatment systems in the early 1900s
to treat the combined sewage before being discharged. Combined sewers work well
until stormwater runoff overwhelms the capacity of the piping system, leading
to wastewater bypassing treatment and flowing directly into surface waters. Combining
wastewater and stormwater also adds to treatment costs and can require building
unnecessary treatment capacity.
In the 1980s, MCES and the City of Minneapolis started three
decades of aggressively identifying and separating remaining combined sewer
areas. As of 2017, Minneapolis has removed almost 4,000 acres of stormwater
drainage from the city’s sanitary sewer system. While isolated combined sewers still
exist today, the sewer systems in Minneapolis are essentially separated and the
risk of overflows is low. Sewer
separation work has been so successful that there has not been a documented CSO
overflow in 8 years.
This success story is especially noteworthy considering
that similar-sized cities across the U.S. continue to spend billions of dollars
to comply with federal CSO management requirements. EPA implemented these irequirements in 1994, but MCES and Minneapolis was already working to reduce combined sewers. Previous work done in
Minnesota means that cities today can use limited public dollars for other
pressing infrastructure needs like renewing and replacing aging infrastructure.
Photo above: MPCA personnel look over sewer separation work
in the agency’s back parking lot in St. Paul in 1993.
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The MPCA is in line for a $250,000 grant to help municipal
wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Minnesota reduce mercury pollution and
save money. The grant comes from the Environment
and Natural Resources Trust Fund, funded by lottery proceeds. Pending authorization from the Minnesota
Legislature, the three-year project would begin in 2019 and conclude in 2022.
Many Minnesota cities need guidance on the wastewater
treatment technologies available to cost-effectively reduce mercury pollution. This
project will produce a document that summarizes and evaluates mercury treatment
technologies, allowing municipalities to select a mercury treatment strategy
that appropriately meets their community’s needs while also minimizing mercury
pollution. The study will develop a
guidance document by evaluating the mercury treatment performance of 13
wastewater plants in Minnesota’s Lake Superior Basin that implement a variety
of mercury treatment technologies, ranging from chemical precipitation to
filtration. Design for mercury removal is presently based on controlling
effluent solids, and this study will provide a foundation for evaluating the
relationship between mercury treatment and particulate solids control.
The MPCA will elucidate the effectiveness of mercury removal
by analyzing:
- Existing mercury wastewater compliance data
- Detailed engineering design analyses of wastewater plants
- Mercury mass balances
The agency will also examine mercury removal mechanisms through
sampling and analysis of mercury speciation in various plant locations,
targeting those unit operations expected to be critical for removing mercury or
changing the partitioning behavior of mercury.
Reducing mercury in wastewater discharges is important for Minnesota
waters and fish populations. Mercury accumulates in fish tissue, leading to limits
on how much fish people can eat. Read more about mercury
pollution on the MPCA website.
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Failing to submit all required forms with eDMRs is a common
problem seen by MPCA data management staff. Here are a few tips on submitting
forms:
- Influent and effluent are different forms; be sure to submit both! (Make sure to maximize the Excel spreadsheet version of the eDMRs to access all sheets.)
- Quarterly and Annual DMRs are separate from the monthly DMRs. (Need to be downloaded separately from the monthly DMRs.)
- Attach all documents required. (Release Sampling Reports,
cover letters, etc.)
Additional information is available on the MPCA DMR webpage.
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Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton recently announced his appointments to
the Governor’s Task
Force on Wild Rice. Established in June 2018 through Executive Orders 18-08
and 18-09, the task force will work toward the restoration and protection of
wild rice habitats, in order to preserve the cultural, environmental, and
economic interests many Minnesotans have for this complex issue.
The task force is a nonpartisan group of experts and key
stakeholders who are committed to finding a compromise solution to wild rice
restoration and protection in Minnesota. It is comprised of representatives
from Tribal Nations, industry, environmental advocacy groups, scientists, state
government agencies, and other stakeholders.
Over the coming months, the task force will work to review
existing peer-reviewed scientific literature and existing wild rice conditions.
It will also help develop recommendations on funding for additional data
collection, best management practices for protecting and restoring wild rice,
sulfate minimization plans, and the development and installation of
cost-effective sulfate treatment technologies.
By Dec. 15, the Task Force on Wild Rice will recommend
specific policy proposals and actions that can be taken by the executive and legislative
branches of state government and the private sector to protect wild rice in
Minnesota, while supporting continued economic development and job creation
across the state.
Dayton created the task force after the administration,
Minnesota Legislature, and key stakeholders did not agree upon a workable policy
solution during the 2018 legislative session. In May 2018, Dayton
vetoed a bill regarding the sulfate standard for waters used to produce wild
rice. The bill would have eliminated important environmental protections for
wild rice, which would have violated the federal Clean Water Act. He also
vetoed a bill that would have replaced the MPCA’s responsibility under state
and federal laws to determine a wild rice water quality standard by unlawfully
giving a work group this power.
See the Environmental Quality Board website for the task
force meeting schedule.
The MPCA placed the wastewater pond general permit on public
notice on Sept. 17. The public comment period is open through Nov. 16. This new
permit allows the MPCA to issue Notices of Coverage to wastewater treatment
facilities as their watershed and effluent limits reviews are completed.
Facilities with reviews still pending will remain covered under the previous
general permit.
The draft general permit, related fact sheet, and list of
eligible permittees are posted on the MPCA website at: www.pca.state.mn.us/public-notices (scroll down to Sept. 17).
In addition, the MPCA developed a fact sheet for city administrators with Frequently
Asked Questions: www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/wq-wwprm1-33.pdf.
The PFA recently approved $28.45 million in grants and loans for water and
sanitary sewer projects in three cities in rural Minnesota. Funding sources
include the Drinking Water Revolving Fund, Water
Infrastructure Fund and Clean Water Revolving Fund.
The city of Canby in Yellow
Medicine County is receiving $11.93 million to replace water mains, including
new hydrants and gate valves; rehabilitate gravity filters at its treatment
plant; and upgrade its sanitary sewer system.
The city of Waseca in Waseca
County is receiving $6.26 million to replace water distribution and sewer
collection lines along Elm Ave.
The city of Waubun in Mahnomen
County is receiving $2.68 million to rehabilitate its sanitary sewer collection
system and replace its water main distribution system.
Read more at the PFA website.
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