Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Technical Contact: David Sahli, 651-296-8722 Information Officer Contact: Nancy Miller, 507-280-3590 Toll-free: 1-800-657-3864 Rochester, Minn. -- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is pleased to announce the successful completion of the city of Red Wing Combined Sewer Separation Project. To acknowledge and celebrate this achievement, MPCA Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan will address the Red Wing City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, April 25, at 7:00 p.m. The Council meeting will be held at the Red Wing City Hall, 315 West 4th Street. The nearly $9 million project was financed jointly through state grants and local funding. The MPCA issued a wastewater treatment facility permit to Red Wing in April of 1993. The permit contained a compliance schedule requiring sewer separation by December 2006. Construction of the separated system was actually completed in November 2004 -- two years ahead of schedule. Combined sewers were designed to carry both wastewater and stormwater in the same pipe. During snow melt or rainstorms, the capacity of combined sewer systems is often exceeded. The excess flow is diverted to protect the pipe system and the operational integrity of the treatment plant. The diverted wastewater/stormwater mixture is discharged to a nearby water body with no treatment. Prior to the separation project, the city of Red Wing discharged approximately 15.9 million gallons of combined sewer overflows to the Mississippi River each year.