Metro Area Chloride Project

Chloride is a unique pollutant in that once it is in our waters there is no available technology to remove it and the primary source of chloride (road salt) is currently necessary for public safety; therefore preventing chloride from entering the environment and protecting waters from degradation while still providing public safety is critical to achieving the desired water quality.

Goals

The final outcomes of this project will be a chloride management plan which will lay out a strategy for addressing chloride impacts to our surface waters for the 7-county metropolitan area. This chloride management plan will satisfy EPA requirements for impaired waters, address waters not yet listed, and develop a strategy to protect waters that are currently meeting the water quality standards. This management plan will also include implementation activities for reducing chloride to TCMA waters as well as identify high priority areas to target implementation activities. The MPCA and the hired consultants will work with the inter-agency team, a technical advisory committee, a monitoring advisory team, and implementation plan committee and local stakeholders to develop this management plan to ensure that it is supported by our local partners and will result in ownership of the final plan.

Chloride impairments in the TCMA based on 2010 303(d)list

Stakeholder process

The MPCA project team will develop and execute a stakeholder process that facilitates positive interactions and ownership of the final restoration and protection plan recommendations and implementation efforts. The meetings will include identification of risks and opportunities, education on modeling and scientific data, and decision-making on preferred strategies and allocations. The diagram below shows the various teams that have been created (or will be created) to engage and participate in the project at various stages. A list of the members participating on each committee can be found below.

nteractions of the 7 stakeholder groups

•  Stakeholder Team Membership List (wq-iw11-06q)

Project objectives

There are 10 tasks that have been created as part of a work plan for this effort. For a detailed description of each task, please refer to the complete project work plan available on the project website.

• Task 1 Targeted chloride monitoring
• Task 2 Update existing data compilation with recent data
• Task 3 Categorize and define waterbodies for protection and restoration
• Task 4 Develop target concentrations for non-impaired waters
• Task 5 Source identification
• Task 6 Modeling and analysis
• Task 7 Develop Education/Outreach materials
• Task 8 Write draft and final TCMA chloride management plan:
• Task 9 Write draft and final implementation plan and long term monitoring plan
• Task 10 Stakeholder process

Timeline

The 10 tasks are on schedule to be completed within approximately 4 years. At the conclusion of the project, the state agencies and all local partners will have the information necessary to begin implementing practices to reduce the amount of chloride entering our waters.

Project work products

• Work Plan Summary (wq-iw11-06s)
• TCMA Chloride Monitoring Plan and QAPP- lakes (wq-iw11-06v)
• TCMA Chloride Monitoring Plan and QAPP - Streams and Stormsewers (wq-iw11-06w)

For details on the project history including the Metro Chloride Feasibility study results, the partners involved, the process, and the detailed technical information, visit Metro Area Chloride | Project historypaste

Contact information

For more information, go to the Road salt and water quality webpage or contact the MPCA at 800-657-3864 or 651-296-6300 and ask for the Metro Watershed Unit.