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August 2023
The new General Construction Stormwater permit was issued August 1, 2023. The draft permit was placed on public notice in January and the MPCA received hundreds of comments. Several revisions to the draft were made based on the comments and the final permit is now in effect. All projects granted permit coverage before August 1, 2023 may continue to operate under the previous permit for 18 months. If the project extends beyond 18 months (Febuary1 of 2024) permittees must update their SWPPP to reflect the new requirements. Many of the changes were minor edits made to improve readability or clarity. Some of the more substantial changes include:
- stabilization requirements for soil berms used as sediment control.
- more frequent inspections including photographs during de-watering activities.
- photographs showing final stabilization now required for permit termination.
- new definition of impervious surface which excludes recreational trails.
- changes to the inspection requirements for establishing temporary wildlife friendly vegetation.
You may see exactly what changed by viewing the red-lined version of the permit on the CSW webpage:
Construction stormwater | Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (state.mn.us)
Our gratitude to Mike Trojan for his years of service developing and maintaining the Minnesota Stormwater Manual! Prior to his retirement, Mike spent hours reorganizing the manual table of contents and related links to improve the user experience. He presented these changes in a webinar on March 29, 2023. You can check out a recording of the webinar found in the manual.
More recently, municipal stormwater staff have been busy updating references to the construction stormwater permit in the manual to make sure these are consistent with the new permit. Users are encouraged to contact MPCA if they notice any references that are out of date. Comments can be sent to paula.kalinosky@state.mn.us or todd.smith@state.mn.us.
Current manual revisions include work order items that were complete at the close of FY 2022. In the next few months, users will find updates on underground and perimeter sand filters, and plant and vegetation information for stormwater management. Staff are busy planning for new projects in FY 2023.
Paula Kalinosky, who recently joined the MPCA as a Hydrologist in the Stormwater Research, Engineering, and Outreach unit, will be the new contact and continue the work on the MN Stormwater Manual. Paula is an alumnus of the Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Department at the University of Minnesota where she completed a master thesis on nutrient recovery through street sweeping. She is a registered professional engineer and comes to MPCA from Emmons and Oliver Resources (EOR), where she worked as a consulting engineer for 10 years. She is a former high school science teacher, enjoys working in outreach, and never violates the laws of thermodynamics! Paula considers herself a ‘Minnesconsinite’, currently resides in Prescott, WI with her spouse, Todd, but fondly recalls the years spent in South Minneapolis when her 3 children were young. When not working on all things stormwater, Paula enjoys being outdoors, spending time with her 2 grandchildren, and honing her gardening skills.
 Lady Slipper lot
The City of St. Cloud uses art murals to call attention to a storm drain’s connection to the Mississippi River, which is the source of the City’s drinking water. To increase the communities’ awareness of a storm drain’s connection to the river and the need to protect this resource, the City launched the Storm Drain Art Program that integrates art into meaningful environmental messages about stormwater pollution prevention.
The Storm Drain Art Program was organized by the St. Cloud Stormwater Utility and the St. Cloud Arts Commission. A Minnesota Department of Health Source Water Protection Grant provides program funding for the projects. The City worked in partnership with local artists, the Sauk River Watershed District (SRWD), and the community to launch the Storm Drain Art Program in 2021. Local artists create unique designs showcasing the personality of where each storm drain art mural is located while educating the community about the importance of being good water stewards.
To increase awareness of the program and keep the public informed, the City also launched an education program using social media about new art projects and messaging on protecting surface waters through personal actions. To date, 13 murals in various locations have been completed throughout the City with 4 of the murals new in 2023. The Storm Drain Art Program not only draws attention to a drain’s connection to surface water quality, but also complements the City's Adopt-A-Drain Program which encourages residents to adopt storm drains to keep clean of trash and other debris and reduce water pollution. All the Storm Drain Art murals can be found using a Story Map on the City website.
In 2006 the City was a founding member of a coalition of central Minnesota cities, counties, and other organizations, called the Central Minnesota Water Education Alliance (CMWEA), where area members help support the public education efforts and raise awareness to promote sustainable water practices and water stewardship in their own communities. The CMWEA helps members meet the public education requirements of the MS4 permit by utilizing the shared educational resources on their H2You membership website.
For more information about the CMWEA or the Storm Drain Art Program, contact stormwater@ci.stcloud.mn.us.
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 The Minnesota Stormwater Research Council (MSRC) funded 23 urban stormwater research projects to date. Several projects were highlighted during the MSRC Annual Meeting and fist annual tour of MSRC-sponsored project sites held July 20, at the City of Bloomington Public Works headquarters. About 30 stormwater professionals attended the event, including MPCA staff from the Stormwater Engineering, Education, and Outreach Unit.
Tour highlights included these metro projects (locations shown on above map):
#1 Hillcrest Park: Stormwater reduction and pollutant sourcing from urban trees.
#2 Highland Bridge: Iron Enhanced Sand Filters Performance and Maintenance Meta- Analysis.
#3 Rosland Park: Evaluation of media effectiveness for removal of phosphorus and other pollutants in high-volume stormwater filtration BMPs.
#4 City of Bloomington: (a) Managing urban pond vegetation to enhance water quality benefits, (b) Newly funded pond studies to begin fall 2023 (4).
Researchers and project team members provided a project overview at each stop followed by Q & A with the tour audience. The tour represented a broad range of stormwater topics. Topics included: impacts on nutrient pollution in stormwater due to evapotranspiration, throughfall, litter fall from urban trees; and filter media performance and options for pond vegetation management.
You can find updates on these and other research projects under current projects and also check out their 2023 Annual Report.
MSRC is an organization of stormwater professionals, practitioners, managers, engineers, researchers, and others focused on urban stormwater management research to prevent, minimize and mitigate the impacts of runoff. The primary goal of the MSRC is to facilitate the completion of applied research that enables informed decision-making in stormwater engineering and management.
If you are not familiar with research facilitated by the MSRC, you may be familiar with one or more of the outreach programs they supported through partnership with the Stormwater Research and Technology Transfer Program at the University of MN Water Resources Center. These include:
To learn more about the work of the MSRC, visit their page on the University of Minnesota WRC website: https://wrc.umn.edu/msrc.
The MPCA is launching a Request for Proposals (RFP) to distribute $500,000 for climate planning projects to small communities with populations less than 10,000 people. This funding provides an opportunity for these communities to assess vulnerabilities and begin planning for the effects of Minnesota’s changing climate in three areas:
- How to increase resilience to stormwater and reduce localized flood risk.
- How to improve the resilience of wastewater systems.
- How to reduce human health effects and adapt community services, ordinances and public spaces to the changing climate.
The effects of climate change are being felt across the state, from overwhelmed infrastructure, damaged property, dying trees, and culturally important native species, to excessive heat, worsening air quality, and other health threats. Minnesota state government is partnering with local communities to assess needs, develop climate-adaptation plans, and make changes so that we are ready for what lies ahead.
Applications are due no later than 4 p.m. on Thursday, September 14, 2023.
Minnesota Stormwater Seminar: Ushering in a new era of TMDL compliance: Adaptive management and reducing connected impervious cover, Thursday, September 14am - Noon, St. Anthony Falls Lab (SAFL), Register
2023 Midwest Climate Resilience Conference, October 25-27th, Duluth, MN.
Clean Sweep Workshop, Wednesday, September 20, 2023, 8:00am- 1:30pm, St. Cloud City Hall, 1201 7th Street South, St. Cloud, MN 56301, Register here.
MN Water Resources Conference, Saint Paul RiverCentre October 17-18, 2023
Smart Salting Training Calendar
Newsletter contact
If you have questions about or suggestions for this newsletter, contact Roberta Getman, MPCA-Rochester, 507-206-2629.
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