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Water Quality Plan


Prepared by the Commissions’ Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the Shingle Creek and West Mississippi Watershed Management Commissions’ Water Quality Plan (WQP) is intended to help the Commissions detail strategies for achieving their Second Generation Management Plan goals. Adopted in 2007, the major components of the Water Quality Plan are:

  • Water quality goals for lakes;
  • Water quality goals for streams;
  • Identification of high priority wetlands for conducting functions and values assessments;
  • Standard protocols for monitoring; and
  • An implementation plan, including monitoring, education, management planning and a CIP.

Activities outlined in the Second Generation Management Plan include developing individual management plans for major water resources. In addition, the Commissions are required to:

  • Complete and implement Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for impaired waterbodies.
  • Establish numerical water quality goals for lakes; and
  • Identify priority wetlands for preservation or restoration.

The Water Quality Implementation Plan charts the course the Commissions will take to meet their Second Generation Management Plan goals as well as Commission and State water quality standards. It includes:

  • A monitoring plan to track water quality changes over time;
  • Detailed management plans for meeting water quality goals for each resource;
  • A capital improvement plan; and
  • An education and public outreach plan.

The Water Quality Plan assumes that, as TMDLs are completed, the TMDL Implementation Plans will refine water quality goals and management activities by water resource and the Capital Improvement Plan will be revised to incorporate additional projects identified in the TMDLs.


2011 Water Quality Report



The Shingle Creek and West Mississippi Watershed Management Commissions annually monitor water quality in the lakes and streams of the watersheds. The Commissions’ technical staff obtains most stream water quality data while volunteers collect most lake water quality and stream and wetland macroinvertebrate and vegetation data.

Water quality in a given year is influenced by the amount of precipitation and the type of precipitation events. Overall, 2011 was a dry, below average precipitation year. The timing of events and rainfall intensity also play a part in determining water quality. This annual variability is why ongoing, long-term monitoring is necessary to determine what is an actual trend and what is just natural variation.

Water quality in Shingle Creek is typical of an urban stream in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and is dominated by watershed runoff. Continued monitoring of stream water quality will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of BMPs and provide a baseline for reasonable water quality goals.

The lakes in Shingle Creek are typical of urban lakes. Thirteen of the 16 lakes are listed as Impaired Waters due to excess nutrients, and TMDLs and Implementation Plans have been approved for all 13 of the lakes. Of the five lakes monitored in 2011, two met their water quality goals – Schmidt and Pike. Lake Success continues to show declining water quality.

The lake TMDLs and the Shingle and Bass Creeks chloride, biotic, and dissolved oxygen TMDLs set forth action plans for improving water quality and biotic integrity in the impaired lakes and streams in the Shingle Creek watershed.


A complete report of the stream and lake monitoring activities that we counducted in 2011 are found in the Shingle Creek and West Mississippi Watershed Management Commissions Annual Water Quality Report 2011

The West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission does not routinely monitor water quality in the few streams that are present in the watershed. The Commission undertook stream and outfall monitoring in 1990-1992 and found that the water quality of runoff from the watershed was generally within ecoregion norms. Since much of the watershed was poised to develop under Commission rules regulating the quality and rate of runoff, the Commission elected to discontinue further monitoring. In 2010 and subsequently 2011 the Commission authorized a repeat of the 1990-1992 monitoring, to determine current conditions and evaluate whether the development rules were protective of downstream water quality. This report summarizes the 2011 results.

 

Water quality in a given year is influenced by the amount of precipitation and the type of precipitation events. 2011 was wet early in the year, however very dry throughout late summer and fall. Overall, it was a below average precipitation year. The timing of events and rainfall intensity also play a part in determining water quality. This annual variability is why ongoing, long-term monitoring is desirable to determine what is an actual trend and what is just natural variation.

 

Water quality and volume or discharge in West Mississippi is typical of an urban watershed in the Anoka Sandplain in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and is dominated by watershed runoff from directly connected impervious areas. Concentrations of monitored parameters are typically within the North Central Hardwood Forest range of typical values as well as the typical value ranges found in the National Urban Runoff Program (NURP) for urbanized areas, with higher values associated with large runoff events. However, concentrations for the following parameters at least occasionally exceed Class 2B water quality standards for one or more of the West Mississippi monitoring sites: chloride, E. coli, TSS, TP and BOD5.

 

The reach of the Mississippi River abutting the watershed is impaired by high levels of E. coli bacteria. There are no plans for TMDLs to be completed within the watershed, but the watershed will likely be subject to implementation activities identified in the currently-underway Upper Mississippi River Bacteria TMDL as well as the South Metro Turbidity TMDL. At this time the water quality discharge goals for the West Mississippi WMC are the state standards for various parameters as set forth in state statute.

 

Results of the 2011 Monitoring are described in the West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission Water Quality Monitoring Report 2011


TMDLs

A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a regularty term in the U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA), describing a value of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quality standards. To learn more about TMDLs in the Shingle Creek and West Mississippi Watersheds click here.

Local Water Quality Projects 
Implementation of water resources management takes place at the local level. The scale and nature of activity in the cities within the watersheds vary from city to city and from year to year based on their unique circumstances: developing, fully developed, or redeveloping; emphasis on private projects vs. regional public projects; and fiscal capacity. 

Cities actively reconstructing streets and utilities have unique opportunities to retrofit existing systems with ponds or other facilities on a very cost-effective basis. Some cities in the Shingle Creek and West Mississippi watersheds are currently actively constructing or reconstructing infrastructure. Others have completed a cycle of construction or reconstruction and are currently in the mode of maintaining their systems. Some actively developing cities require private developers to construct all infrastructure improvements and thus may not need to construct public improvement projects. All of these activities are consistent with the overall water resource goals of the commissions. 

Cities also routinely perform maintenance BMPs (Best Management Practices) such as routine street sweeping, catchbasin and storm sewer cleaning and maintenance of outfalls and ponds. These maintenance activities not only protect a city's investment in infrastructure and improve water quality, they can reduce private property damage during extreme runoff events by maximizing storm water storage and flow. All cities enforce the Commissionsí requirements regarding water detention and treatment. All private development exceeding certain size requirements must provide detention and treatment on site or demonstrate that adequate detention and treatment is available in a regional or other facility. 

In addition, all private developers must meet the Commissions erosion control requirements. Each project is reviewed by the Commissions and includes water control features to ensure the water management goals of the Commissions are met. Almost all the cities have constructed numerous public and/or private facilities that control runoff and treat stormwater. These have a beneficial effect on the quality of surface waters, substantially reducing pollutants. Other projects have been completed or are contemplated specifically to provide benefits to lakes or to Shingle Creek itself.