Minnesota Water Resources Conference - Water Resources Center ...

Poster Session 4:45–5:45
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
Tuesday, Monday, October 27 23
Saint Paul’s Water Comprehensive Plan Chapter, and Saint Paul’s Water Comprehensive Plan: An
Inclusive Approach to Meeting State and Local Requirements
George Johnson, SEH Inc., gejohnson@sehinc.com; Larry Soderholm, Planning Administrator City of Saint Paul; Andrew
Jacobson, Duke University
Minnesota statute, section 473.864 directs local government units within the seven county metropolitan
area to update their local Comprehensive Plans and submit them to the Metropolitan Council. This round of
Comprehensive Plan updates includes, for the first time, a chapter dedicated to water resources.
Saint Paul, with its history of citizen engagement, invited regulatory, nongovernmental and advocacy groups to
participate in a citizen task force to create the plan. City staff and planning commissioners were the conveners
and drafters. Participants include several city departments, watershed districts, neighborhood and advocacy
groups, industry professionals, University of Minnesota professors, and state and federal employees.
Following the broad theme of sustainability, the Water Comprehensive Plan integrates information about
water supply, surface and ground water management, and sanitary sewers. The plan will set City policy until
2020 to ensure safe and affordable water supply and sanitary sewer services while also protecting surface and
groundwater quality.
Policy Considerations in the Poplar River Turbidity TMDL Study
Greg Johnson, Minnesota Control Agency, Gregory.Johnson@pca.state.mn.us; Karen Evens, Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency; Pat Carey, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; Troy Naperala, URS Corporation
A TMDL study was initiated on the Poplar River along the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota given
significant interest by some watershed stakeholders by the MPCA. Contracts with an EPA contractor and
local unit of government were developed to complete the technical and stakeholder activities for the study,
respectively. Several policy and program issues and concerns arose during the EPA contractor portion
of the study including the role and participation of stakeholders in the study, especially in the review of
draft contractor reports; application of the turbidity standard given likely significant “natural” background
contributions; consideration of a process to establish a site-specific standard; and a need to address turbidity
issues along all of the North Shore. This presentation will describe the issues and work that were and are
continuing to be done to address the issues and concerns.
A General Method for Modeling Bacterial TMDLs Along the Texas Gulf Coast
Stephanie Johnson, University of Minnesota, sljohnson@mail.utexas.edu; David Maidment, University of Texas; Mary Jo
Kirisits, University of Texas
With over 300 bacterial TMDLs to complete, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has
recommended the use of “simple” water quality models for initial modeling efforts. Within this paper we will
discuss our attempts to expand previously used methods to develop a “simple” GIS-based modeling scheme for
calculating bacterial TMDLs along the Texas Gulf Coast. Progress to date includes developing an approach to
transfer the concept of load duration curves to model bacterial loading in non-riverine systems. Results also include
a delineation of the watershed based on the likelihood of contributing viable bacteria to the violating waterbody.
Methodologies are being developed with nationally available datasets to encourage the transfer of these concepts
to other watersheds across the United States.
Minnesota Water Resources Conference, October 27–28, 20078 42