Stormwater manual upgraded to wiki

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The new Stormwater Manual wiki offers the latest in stormwater management, including BMPs, models and regulations.

At 850 pages and 25 megabytes online, the Minnesota Stormwater Manual offers a wealth of information on managing urban stormwater that can carry pollutants to lakes and streams. Everyday users, such as cities and developers, use the manual to better manage urban stormwater runoff by finding the optimal Best Management Practices (BMPs).

But, the current manual and its delivery method needed updating. Thanks to Clean Water Legacy funding and a design team of professionals from public agencies and private firms, the MPCA is replacing the Minnesota Stormwater Manual with a powerful online version that uses a wiki platform. This online manual offers quick ways to search for information, provide feedback to the MPCA, and update the contents. This is the first wiki project for the agency and may be the first of its kind in the United States.

Easier and faster to update

Considerable stormwater research is being conducted, and it’s critical to incorporate the latest information on topics such as BMP design, construction, maintenance, and pollutant removal into the manual. With updates coming later this year, the manual could double the size of the current version. It was an opportune time to revamp the manual and make it as accessible as possible. The wiki provides the agency and its partners with a mechanism to incorporate new information as it becomes available.

Check the manual often for updates as new Minimal Impact Design Standards are still in the works and will be released later this year.

New features

Users should find the transition to the wiki version to be relatively painless. This wiki version of the manual offers far more features than the current static version:

• Much more powerful navigation and search capabilities.
• Internal links between related material and easy access to external links.
• Ability to export to PDF format, including creating a tailored group of articles into a PDF document.
• Easy-to-use utility to generate citations of information from the manual.
• Feedback tools linked to each page so users can communicate to the MPCA about functionality, corrections and content.
• Easy viewing of recent changes and updates with immediate access to updates.
• Images and tables stored as stand-alone items, with access to higher resolution images.
• Ability to include attachments such as Word documents, Autocad files, Excel spreadsheets, and PDF documents.
• Accessible with mobile devices.

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