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Phosphorus management plans (PMPs) help wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) operators and managers understand the inputs of phosphorus to, and treatment capabilities of their facilities. PMPs help to evaluate pollution prevention and WWTF optimization options that can reduce the amount of phosphorus discharged to Minnesota waters. Reducing your phosphorus inputs and outputs can reduce the cost of operating your facility.

Phosphorus is a common constituent in many wastewater discharges and a pollutant that has the potential to negatively impact the quality of Minnesota’s lakes, wetlands, rivers, and streams.

Your facility’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit may require the preparation of a PMP, and the resources listed here can help you work through the process.

PMP resources

The PMP resources, a collaborative effort by the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP), University of Minnesota, and the MPCA, have been revised and updated.

  • Use this template to help design your PMP. Forms and tables may be completed electronically or printed out and completed manually.
  • An analysis of the phosphorus removal performance of 284 municipal wastewater treatment facilities, intended to assist operators in assessing the performance and potential phosphorus removal capabilities of their systems.
  • Quick tips for selecting phosphorus reduction strategies
  • A methodology for meeting your influent phosphorus reduction goals by allocating phosphorus loads to the commercial, industrial and institutional users of the WWTF. 
  • The PMP form is an abbreviated version of the guide that contains the tables and fields but omits the guidance text.

Tables

The electronic versions of tables 1A, 1B, and 3 automatically compute various loading calculations and includes annual and monthly summaries and charts. The sample versions are preloaded with data to illustrate the charting and graphing features. To unlock the protected cells to modify any of the functions in Tables 1A and 1B, enter the password "phosphorus" for each worksheet. Table 3 is not password protected

For continuously discharging, mechanical WWTFs:

For controlled discharge, pond WWTFs:

  • Enter flows and phosphorus concentrations from businesses, municipal sources, satellite communities, and domestic sources and loads are calculated automatically. If you add rows for additional sources, you must copy the column F formula into the new rows.

Resources