Minnesota's Impaired Waters and TMDLs

TMDL Project: Minnesota River — Turbidity

Background

This TMDL project addresses 18 impairments on the Minnesota River and its tributaries. The TMDL study is currently underway, and the MPCA is partnering with Tetra Tech, an environmental consulting firm, to develop the TMDL study.  A stakeholder committee representing urban, agriculture, watershed projects, government and citizens is currently meeting. See the meetings and events listed below for public stakeholder meetings.

• Minnesota River TMDL Project for Turbidity (wq-b3-33)
• Identifying Sediment Sources in the Minnesota River Basin (wq-b3-36)

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Map and location

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TMDL report and implementation plan

• Minnesota River Turbidity TMDL Draft Report (wq-iw7-32b)
• Public Notice open for comment February 27, 2012 – May 29, 2012
• The public comment period has been extended to May 29, 2012. The public notice for this extension will be posted April 9, 2012.

Other documents

• Model Calibration and Validation Report (wq-iw7-32n)
• Minnesota River Model Calibration Appendices D, E, F (wq-iw7-32o)
• Minnesota River Basin Turbidity TMDL Scenario Report (wq-iw7-32p)
• An Integrated Sediment Budget for the Le Sueur River Basin (wq-iw7-29o)

Work groups

• Stakeholder Advisory Committee
• Minnesota River Sediment Reduction Advisory Committee

Project schedule and work products

• Minnesota River Basin TMDL Project Workplan
• Papers Related to Minnesota River and Other Research Projects
• Report: Identifying Sediment Sources in the Minnesota River Basin (wq-b3-43)

Meetings and events

The MPCA will present "TMDL Impacts on Stormwater Permits" on two dates in April.

• Wednesday. April 18, 10:00 to noon at the Mankato Public Works Center, 501 S. Victory Drive, Mankato, minn.
• Thursday, April 19, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the MPCA St. Paul office, Lower Level Board Rooms, 520 Lafayette Road North, St. Paul.
  How the Minnesota River and South Metro Mississippi TMDLs may impact municipalities with stormwater permits

Recent events

The MPCA recognized the stakeholder, technical and science advisory groups for the South Metro Mississippi and Minnesota River TMDLs on March 21 in Redwood Fallsand March 29 in Red Wing.

The MPCA gave an overview on the South Metro Mississippi TMDL project at a Water Quality Goals meeting Dec. 6, 2011, in Mankato, hosted by Clean Up our River Environment and several other groups. The MPCA presentation is available in the file below.

• Citizen-led conversation on water quality goals (wq-iw9-12q)

Links

• Lake Pepin TMDL
• Mississippi Makeover Project

• July 1, 2010, Stakeholder Meeting - 9:30-12:00 p.m., Holiday Inn, New Ulm.
  • Catch-up conversations, What’s up with the turbidity TMDL?
    • Progress and plans
    • Research status
    • Hydrology simulation
    • The new TMDL approach
    • MPCA policies
    • Urban partners
    • A healthy, prosperous basin

• August 27, 2009, Advisory Committee Meeting - 10:00-3:00 p.m., New Ulm Public Library.
  • Agenda: Summary of turbidity research synthesis, HSPF model results
  • Presentations
    • Identifying sediment sources in Minnesota River Basin
    • HSPF model scenarios 1-4
    • Turbidity TMDL allocations
• February 3, 2009, Advisory Committee Meeting - 12:30-3:30 p.m., New Ulm Public Library.
  • Agenda: Model results, Lake Pepin allocations, communication strategy
  • Presentations
    • Elements of modeling scenario - Larry Gunderson, MPCA
    • Model results - Chuck Regan, Barr Engineering
    • Allocation process for TMDL - Larry Gunderson, MPCA
    • Lake Pepin allocations for the Minnesota River - Norman Senjem, MPCA
    • Next steps - Hafiz Munir, MPCA 
• December 16, 2008 Stakeholder Committee Meeting - 10 a.m.-3 p.m., New Ulm Holiday Inn 
  • Agenda: Project status and latest modeling results.
    
    
• July 24, 2008 Stakeholder Committee Meeting - 10 a.m.-3 p.m., New Ulm Holiday Inn  
  • Agenda: Preliminary modeling results.
    
    
• March 10, 2008 Stakeholder Committee Meeting - New Ulm
  • Presentations:
    • Sediment Levels in the Minnesota River - Scott Matteson
    • Geochemical Fingerprinting - Dr. Dan Engstrom
    • Sediment Source Estimates Using Regression Techniques - Pat Baskfield
      
      
• November 2007 Stakeholder Committee Meeting, developing scenarios for the water quality model, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 27, Country Inn and Suites, Mankato. Contact Larry Gunderson for more information.
  
  
• September 2007 Stakeholder Committee Meeting, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 12, Holiday Inn, New Ulm. Contact Larry Gunderson for more information.
  • Presentations:
    • Hydraulic Change, Hydraulic Continuity, and Channel Response
    • How Does Sediment Affect Fish and Macroinvertebrates?
      
      
• July 2007 Stakeholder Committee Meeting, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Wednesday, July 11, Holiday Inn, New Ulm. Contact Larry Gunderson for more information.
  • Agenda
  • Presentations:
    • Ag Sector Issues
    • Urban Sector Issues
    • Watershed Sector Issues
    • Combined Sector Issues
      
      
• March 2007 Stakeholder Committee Meeting, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Thursday, March 29, Redwood Area Community Center, Redwood Falls.
  
  
• November 2006 Stakeholder Committee Meeting
  • Agenda
  • Presentations:
    • Sediment Delivery Concepts, Pete Cooper
    • TMDL Update, Larry Gunderson
    • Minnesota River Turbidity and Sediment Values , Pat Baskfield
    • Practices For High Sensitivity Lands, Linda Meschke
    • Erosion Sensitivity in the Minnesota River Basin, Jason Ewert.
      
      
• September 2006 Stakeholder Committee Meeting, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday, September 11, New Ulm Community Center. (Note new location!)
  • Draft Agenda
    • Presentations:
      Streambank/Bluff Erosion Estimate for High Island Creek and Watonwan River Watersheds (file size = 1.6 MB)
      
      
• July 2006 Stakeholder Committee Meeting, 9:30 a.m., Thursday, July 20, University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center, Waseca.
  • Draft Agenda
    
    
• June 2006 Stakeholder Committee Meeting, 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 6, Redwood Area Community Center, Redwood Falls.
  • Draft Agenda
    • Presentations:
      Agricultural Practices in South Central Minnesota
      Agricultural Practices in South Central Minnesota - Maps (file size = 7 MB)
      Chippewa River Watershed Project Since 1998 (file size = 6MB)
      
      
• March 2006 Stakeholder Committee Meeting
  •  
    • Presentations:
      March meeting Agenda - Larry Gunderson, MPCA
      Middle Minnesota River Watershed Report - Kevin Kuehner, Brown-Nicollet-Cottonwood Water Board (file size = 2.5 MB)
      Natural and Background Turbidity Sources - Jim Klang, MPCA

See the TMDL Meetings, Events and News page for notices of general interest and event-related information on impaired waters/TMDLs.

Links

• Minnesota watersheds
• Basins in Minnesota
• EPA Office of Water: Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program
• USGS Home Page
• Minnesota River Basin Data Center
• Upper Mississippi Basin Stakeholder Network
• Basin Alliance for the Lower Mississippi in Minnesota

Information contact

For information about the Minnesota River Turbidity TMDL Project, contact:

• Larry Gunderson, 651-757-2400
• Forrest Peterson, 320-214-441-6972
• Cathy Rofshus, 507-206-2608