Watershed Achievements Report
wq-cwp8-18
wq-cwp8-18
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Introduction <strong>Watershed</strong> <strong>Achievements</strong> <strong>Report</strong> 2015<br />
Tracking progress<br />
The <strong>Watershed</strong> Pollutant Load Monitoring Network is designed to obtain spatial and temporal pollutant load<br />
information from Minnesota’s rivers and streams and track water quality trends. This long-term program utilizes state<br />
and federal agencies, universities, local partners and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency staff to collect water quality<br />
and flow data to calculate pollutant loads. Monitoring sites span three ranges of scale:<br />
• Basin – major river main stem sites along the Mississippi, Minnesota, Rainy, Red, and St Croix rivers<br />
• Major <strong>Watershed</strong> – tributaries draining to major rivers with an average drainage area of 1,350 square miles (8 digit<br />
hydrologic unit code (HUC) scales)<br />
• Subwatershed – major branches or nodes within major watersheds with average drainage areas of approximately<br />
300-500 square miles<br />
Most installations occurred in 2008 and 2009, all sites were installed by the end of 2010 and intensive sampling began<br />
the year following installation.<br />
(To compute a discharge for new stations protocols require two years of discharge measurements for a rating curve.)<br />
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency www.pca.state.mn.us 14