Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Media contact: Forrest Peterson, 320-214-3789 Technical contact: Steve Sommer, 651-282-5851 St. Paul, Minn. -- In many southern and southwestern Minnesota communities, every flush of the toilet or flow from a sink drain passes through some form of wastewater treatment and eventually enters the Minnesota River. To help citizens and communities do a better job of reducing the amount of one particular pollutant in the wastewater, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recently launched a Web site about the Minnesota River Basin General Phosphorus Permit. The site provides useful information for citizens as well as wastewater treatment facilities affected by the permit. The permit, issued Dec. 1, 2005, currently applies to about 150 wastewater treatment facilities within the Minnesota River Basin. The permit requires phosphorus effluent limits on 41 of the larger facilities, including Mankato, New Ulm, Marshall and Willmar. Effluent is the water discharged from a plant after the treatment process is complete. The remaining smaller facilities have other requirements to help reduce phosphorus discharged to the basin. Any new or expanding wastewater treatment facility in the basin will receive a phosphorus limit to ensure that there is no net increase in phosphorus discharged. Too much phosphorus in water feeds the growth of algae. When algae blooms die off they are consumed by bacteria. The consumption process reduces the level of dissolved oxygen in the water. Fish and other aquatic life require dissolved oxygen to survive. When the river flow is low, wastewater treatment facilities become a primary source of phosphorus. The new Web site contains general information about the permit. It also provides copies of forms and reports that facilities must submit to comply with their permit conditions. The Web site will be expanded in the future to include additional information, such as actual phosphorus discharge data, a registry of phosphorus trades made and compliance with the phosphorus reductions required by the permit. For more information about the Web site, contact Steve Sommer, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 520 Lafayette Rd. N., St. Paul, MN 55155; e-mail steven.sommer@state.mn.us; phone (651) 282-5851. The Web site is located at: hhref="/water/basins/mnriver/mnriver-phosphoruspermit.html.