Concurrent Session IV
Track I: Challenges of High Water Conditions Due to Climate Change
Session ID: 1047 – The Challenges of Managing High Water Levels on Landlocked Basins: A Story from the VBWD
Primary Author: Jennifer Koehler, Barr Engineering
The Valley Branch Watershed District (VBWD) is in the eastern Twin Cities metropolitan area, primarily in Washington County. Two-thirds of the watershed drains to lakes with outlets or streams while the remainder drains to smaller landlocked lakes. The period from 2014 to 2020 was one of the wettest on record. This resulted in record-high groundwater and water levels in many of the landlocked basins. In 2020, the VBWD and Washington County performed emergency pumping at seven landlocked basins and also heard resident concerns about high water levels on four other landlocked basins.
In response, the VBWD completed a comprehensive planning study with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The study goal was to identify alternatives to manage sustained high-water conditions and flood risk and understand downstream impacts. Options evaluated included acquiring low dwellings and creation of outlets along with developing planning level costs. Stakeholders from various state and local agencies were involved throughout the study.
The study included both continuous groundwater and surface water modeling to understand the conditions contributing to high-water conditions along with flood risk assessments. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the study as well as some of the challenges of implementing outlets including:
- Development and changing land use on long-term water levels, especially in an area with karst and PFAS contamination.
- Potential climate change impacts.
- Distribution of at-risk structures between several basins.
- Addition of new discharges possibly not complying with MS4 permit requirements.
- Known capacity issues with the receiving system.
- Movement of water in a known PFAS-contaminated area.
We will summarize the recommendations from the comprehensive planning study and discuss some of the next steps.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Watershed Management
Session ID: 1045 – Balancing Markley Lake: Using Current and Future Conditions to Identify Potential Solutions to High Water Levels
Primary Author: Sam Larson, AE2S
Land-locked lakes maintain stable water levels when natural infiltration and evaporation processes are balanced with runoff from the surrounding area over multiple years. Development around land-locked lakes can tip this equilibrium by increasing runoff to the land-locked lake due to increased impervious area. Markley Lake’s historic lake level monitoring shows this tip in equilibrium, likely due to development and changing climates. With an increase in runoff volume, the natural processes of infiltration and evaporation could no longer draw down Markley Lake to a stable water elevation, leading to prolonged high-water levels impacted adjacent properties. Unlocking a land-locked lake is challenging and Markley Lake’s location on the border of Prior Lake and Credit River creates additional challenges. In 2023, Scott County, Prior Lake, and Credit River teamed up to study the problem and see if they could find a solution to solve the high-water levels of Markley Lake.
This presentation will focus on the historical information leading up to this study of Markley Lake, including information on rainfall data and previously completed studies, the effects of more future development scenarios, the potential solutions to mitigate high-water levels, and the inclusion of the public within the study. The potential solutions to mitigate high-water levels included both conventional and some non-conventional approaches to review the effectiveness of the solution, as well as the review and understanding of some non-conventional approaches already in place. Using these non-conventional approaches utilized well documented rainfall and lake levels, which have been monitored by the City of Prior Lake for the last six years. The study wrapped up May of 2024 with a selected solution to mitigate high-water levels at Markley Lake. The three local government units involved are currently looking toward the future to provide funding for the selected solution.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Lakes, Stormwater
Session ID: 1081 – Solving an Ongoing Flooding Problem to Avoid the Need to Rescuing Drivers – Centerville/Edgerton Road Flood Study
Primary Author: Jacques Duval, SRF Consulting Group, Inc.
May 12, 2022, was a day that created a tipping point for the intersection of Edgerton Street (County Road 59) and Centerville Road. On the evening of May 12, significant flooding occurred because of a 2-plus inch storm event, ponding water multiple feet deep that required drivers to be rescued from the flooded cars. This was not the first time that flooding occurred at this location near the existing railroad trestle. Photos obtained from local resident from the 1950’s show significant flooding damage.
Ramsey County led a partnership with Vadnais Lakes Area Watershed Management Organization (VLAWMO), City of Vadniais Heights, and the Saint Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS) to find a solution to reduce/eliminate flooding at the intersection of Edgerton Street and Centerville Road. Flooding occurs at the low point near the railroad bridge on a regular basis, temporarily affecting the ability to use the roadway. A secondary objective was to include water quality improvements where possible to provide additional protection of East Vadnais Lake, water supply for the City of Saint Paul and other eastside communities.
This presentation will cover the Feasibility Study process, selection of a preferred alternative, development of the construction documents, and ultimately, construction of the new facility.
Topic Area(s): Flood Protection
Session ID: 1039 – Development of Watershed Scale Real Time Control Systems
Primary Author: Ross Bintner, City of Edina
The City of Edina and Nine Mile Creek Watershed District are working to assess the feasibility of a real time control system (smart infrastructure) to adaptively manage pond and lake levels. This presentation will provide a summary of the development of the technology and discuss key findings, benefits, and tradeoffs from a technical and regulatory perspective. This feasibility level summary will include results of evaluating flood risk reduction, rate control, clean water outcomes (particularly sediment and nutrient load reduction), streambank stability and erosion, and riparian property considerations. The feasibility phase of the project will be complete in 2024.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Flood Protection, Innovative Technologies
Track II: Adopting Drains and Sweeping Streets
Session ID: 1027 – RWMWD Street Sweeping Prioritization and Implementation of Grant Program
Primary Author: Michael McKinney, Barr Engineering Co.
RWMWD and Barr Engineering Co. have completed a street sweeping prioritization study to inform development of a grant program to enhance municipal street sweeping operations within the district. RWMWD surveyed municipal partners to learn about existing sweeping operations and challenges / barriers to conducting effective sweeping operations. Based on survey input, a street sweeping prioritization study was developed to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of existing sweeping and (b) map sweeping priority areas throughout the district. Prioritization was based on effectiveness of street sweeping to protect RWMWD managed waterbodies. Findings of this study informed implementation of an enhanced street sweeping grant program in 2023. Results and water quality impact from enhanced street sweeping efforts in 2023 have been quantified, and successes, challenges, and lessons learned are currently being incorporated into development and implementation of an expanded grant program in 2024.
Topic Area(s): Best Management Practices (BMPs), GIS / LiDAR, Innovative Technologies
Session ID: 1033 – Enhanced Street Sweeping for Water Quality: A Watershed-Based Approach
Primary Author: Justine Dauphinais, Coon Creek Watershed District
Given growing interest in street sweeping for water quality, the Coon Creek Watershed District (CCWD) engaged Emmons & Olivier Resources, Inc. (EOR) to complete a cost-benefit analysis of district-wide sweeping activities encompassing six cities and a county highway department. The purpose of this study was to 1) inventory past and present sweeping practices to quantify pollutant reductions eligible for TMDL compliance reporting, and 2) provide recommendations for cost-effective enhanced sweeping strategies to achieve water quality goals. Pollutant load reductions and associated credits for total phosphorus (TP) and total suspended solids (TSS) attributable to current sweeping efforts were estimated for the four impaired streams within the CCWD using the MPCA Street Sweeping Calculator. A range of enhanced sweeping scenarios were then modeled by varying sweeping timing and frequency (2–12 sweeps per year) across simulated sweeping zones considering pollutant source, fate, and transport. Sweeping zones were prioritized based on roadway tree canopy cover, the density of existing structural Best Management Practices (BMPs), and the percentage of each zone directly connected to the stream. Predicted reductions in TP and TSS loads were estimated using a planning calculator developed based on literature values along with itemized costs per unit effort. Modeling results indicated that reallocating existing sweeping effort across priority zones district-wide could improve pollutant removal by 9–16% and maximizing effort to 12 sweeps per year would increase removal by 96–129% with costs ranging from $120–$1, 105/lb TP and $2, 900–$4,300/ton TSS. A realistic scenario of sweeping all zones 5–10 times per year depending on priority score would result in 21% more TP removal at a cost of $497 per lb, achieving 19–100% of TMDL goals for the impaired streams. Our findings suggest that thoughtfully planned enhanced street sweeping is a very impactful and cost-effective stormwater BMP.
Topic Area(s): Best Management Practices (BMPs), Stormwater, Watershed Management
Session ID: 1067 – Ten Years of Community Engagement and Storm Drain Cleaning with Adopt-a-Drain.org
Primary Author: Sofie Wicklund, Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education
Over a decade ago, after surveying existing stormwater stewardship programs and finding none that met community needs, the Metro Watershed Partners and Hamline University’s Center for Global Environmental Education created the Adopt-a-Drain.org program. The main objectives of the program were to develop a public education and community engagement program around nonpoint source pollution using principles of behavior change research that allows member organizations to measure and report on engagement and debris removal. Adopt-a-Drain.org began as a pilot project in select neighborhoods in St. Paul in October, 2014 and has been refined through focus groups, participant surveys, and member feedback. Now in its tenth year, the program covers the entire state of MN and has been adopted by over 100 jurisdictions in ten states (CA, FL, LA, MA, MN, WA, UT, NJ, VT). As of April 2024, the program has engaged more than 14,500 participants who have adopted over 24,000 storm drains. The number of adopters and storm drains adopted has consistently grown by over 20% each year. As a direct result of participants’ actions, more than 750,000 pounds of debris have been removed from storm drains and diverted from our waterways. This presentation will explore the evolution, successes, challenges, and lessons learned over the past 10 years. We will emphasize how regional collaborations have helped a localized stormwater pilot project turn into the largest drain adoption program in the country, and will include key takeaways for other community engagement projects in water resources.
Topic Area(s): Education and Citizen Involvement, Stakeholder & Community Engagement, Stormwater
Session ID: 1066 – Adopt-a-Drain K–12: Empowering Educators to Reduce Water Pollution
Primary Author: Kris Bennett, Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education
The Adopt-a-Drain K–12 program is a companion program to the Adopt-a-drain.org Storm Drain stewardship program. Adopt-a-Drain K–12 helps educators flexibly integrate this program into their own curriculum, school, and community. Teachers receive training, newsletter support, access to online K–12 learning resources, printed classroom materials, and incentives for their classroom and students. Objectives of this program are as follows: 1) Raise awareness of urban runoff's impact on water quality. 2) Provide hands-on citizen-science learning experiences for students. 3) Provide inexpensive and local “environmental responsibility” and community engagement experiences for K–12 students. 4) Clear debris from storm drains to reduce water pollution. And 5) Increase adopt-a-drain outreach efforts by providing students with materials, incentives and resources to share with families and neighborhoods.
Methods used by the program include teacher training and a biweekly newsletter with Adopt-a-Drain updates, inspiration, and teacher tips throughout the school year; access to K–12 online resources about storm drain pollutants and urban water cycle topics; outreach to families and neighborhoods to support additional program implementation; and the use of the Adopt-a-Drain online platform for citizen science data collection and engagement.
Now in its fourth year, the program has increased student awareness and knowledge of stormwater issues, enhanced community engagement in addressing water quality issues, improved drain cleanliness and water quality indicators, and provided feedback from stakeholders on the program's educational and practical impact.
Topic Area(s): Education and Citizen Involvement, Stakeholder & Community Engagement, Stormwater
Track III: Lakes
Session ID: 1091 – Why Has the North Shore of Lake Superior Become a Hotspot for the Nuisance Alga Didymosphenia Geminata?
Primary Author: Kui Hu, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Croix Watershed Research Station
The expansion of the nuisance benthic mat-forming diatom Didymosphenia geminata on the North Shore of Lake Superior has raised concerns from the public and natural resource managers since the first observed bloom in Poplar River in 2018. Here, we present data collected during a monthly survey of periphyton and water chemistry on six streams on the North Shore and nearby Lake Superior during the ice-free period (May to Oct) from 2021 to 2023 as well as an additional 20 lake-stream pairs sampled once during each summer. Our goals were to characterize the timing and spatial extent and identify the drivers of D. geminata blooms. We showed that D. geminata was present in eight streams and many lakeshore sites, with higher density in streams compared to shore sites, except the Lester and Knife. Among the monthly monitoring sites, there were inter-annual seasonal variations at stream sites with the highest density in Devil Track River in October, followed by the Caribou River in September 2023. Four paired sites showed similar seasonal change patterns of low density in late spring and early summer (May to July), and the highest density from August to October. Combined with water chemistry data, the higher density of didymo was related to low nutrients of phosphorus and nitrogen and moderate flow rate. Our findings provide crucial information for developing effective management strategies to mitigate the spread of this nuisance alga and minimize its impacts on freshwater ecosystems along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Topic Area(s): Invasive Species, Monitoring
Session ID: 1092 – The Lake Superior Lakewide Action and Management Plan and Binational Partnership
Primary Author: Elizabeth LaPlante, USEPA
The Lakewide Action and Management Plan (LAMP) is an ecosystem-based strategy for restoring and protecting the Lake Superior ecosystem at the lake level. The LAMP was developed by the binational Lake Superior Partnership, a collaborative team of natural resources managers led by the governments of the United States and Canada, in cooperation and consultation with State and Provincial governments, Tribal governments, First Nations, Métis, Municipal governments and watershed management agencies.
One of the main objectives of the LAMP is to implement critical priority actions that the partners will take over a five-year cycle to restore, protect and maintain the Lake Superior ecosystem. The presentation will include examples of the development and implementation of such priority actions, many of which in the US are supported by Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding. Another objective of the LAMP is to present information on the general ecosystem health of Lake Superior, using binational State of Lake indicators.
The presentation will include additional details on this model for cooperation among binational and multijurisdictional governmental agencies. Results from some of the completed projects from the 2020-2024 Lake Superior LAMP will also be presented. Finally, additional information on other Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Annex 2 (Lakewide Management Annex) products will be discussed.
Topic Area(s): Lakes
Session ID: 1061 – How Lakeshore Monitoring Efforts Are Informing Local Partnerships and Engagement Efforts
Primary Author: Mike Isensee, CMSCWD
At a December 2022 presentation for the Association of Minnesota Counties, the Natural Shoreline Partnership noted that Minnesota has lost 40–50% of its natural shorelines to development and continues to lose natural shorelines at a rate of 1–2% per decade. This growing problem affects clean water, fish and wildlife, recreation, and the natural beauty of lakes in the Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District (CMSCWD). In 2022, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency warned that two lakes within the CMSCWD, Big Carnelian and Big Marine, are at high risk of being listed on the State’s impaired waters list for a biotic life impairment. Shoreline surveys conducted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and CMSCWD noted significant development pressure and degradation of the lake ecosystems as the primary stressors impacting aquatic life in these lakes. In February of 2023, CMSCWD worked with the East Metro Water Education Program to conduct a mailed survey of 565 lakeshore landowners on 10 of its 31 lakes in northeastern Washington County and facilitate focus group sessions with landowners on Big Carnelian and Big Marine Lakes. During this presentation, we will share key themes learned from the lakeshore survey and focus group sessions. Understanding lakeshore landowners’ knowledge, values, motivations, and concerns is a critical first step for governmental and nonprofit entities hoping to develop effective outreach and engagement strategies to protect and restore natural shorelines.
Topic Area(s): Education and Citizen Involvement, Emerging Issues, Stakeholder & Community Engagement
Session ID: 1014 – Connecting Lakeshore Health to Biological Impairments on High Quality Lakes: Quantifying Current Lakeshore Conditions
Primary Author: Tom Langer, CMSCWD
The Carnelian Marine St. Croix Watershed District (CMSCWD) is an 81-square-mile geography that contains 31 lakes that range in depth, size, and quality. Anecdotal evidence suggested that CMSCWD lakes were losing their natural lakeshore which was being replaced with an urbanized aesthetic that included rock, beach, wall, and turf grass to the water’s edge. To establish a baseline and quantify lakeshore habitat changes, the CMSCWD began lakeshore monitoring on 10 of its 31 lakes. Lakes were prioritized based on water quality and biological health trends, lakes of high quality and protection status, and total development pressure (historic, current, and forecasted). The District’s evaluation process followed a similar monitoring methodology to the MN Department of Natural Resource’s Score the Shore (STS). Our GIS app-based monitoring approach differed from the STS protocol and allowed for sampling of every individual lakeshore parcel, calculating metrics based on lot widths rather than a set distance, incorporating additional observations related local and state partner interests, and collecting lakeshore photos with additional regulatory consideration. In total, 646 individual parcels and 38.8 miles of lakeshore were observed in 2022/23 across the 10 prioritized lakes. Lakeshore health of District lakes ranged from Very Low to Moderate with a District average of Low. Lakeshore zones ranged from Very Low to High with a District average of Low or Moderate. The shoreland zone was the lowest scoring zone, followed by the aquatic zone, and then the shoreline zone, but this varied on a lake-by-lake basis. In conclusion, District-wide lakeshore development pressure and habitat losses have resulted in degraded and compromised lakeshore values within CMSCWD. The combination of active landowner stewardship, regulatory partner alignment, and education and engagement efforts will be needed to keep District lakes off the State’s Impaired Water List.
Topic Area(s): Aquatic Biota, Emerging Issues, Lakes
Track IV: Contamination Causes and New Treatment Alternatives
Session ID: 1050 – Evaluation and Use of a Novel Tool for Microplastic Sediment Extraction in Minnesota Lakes and Rivers
Primary Author: Liana Sweezer, University of Minnesota Duluth – Large Lakes Observatory
The prevalence of microplastics in the natural environment is a problem that becomes more glaring as quantification methods continue to advance. Microplastics in aquatic environments have become so ubiquitous that there is evidence they have been integrated into the sediment cycle. In marine and lacustrine environments, sediments may act as a sink for microplastics, effectively removing them from the environment. Much like other environmental contaminants, sediments can be used to assess the state of microplastic distribution in the larger environment, as well as give clues about the historical distribution of microplastics. Current methods for quantifying and characterizing plastics in sediments are lacking, however. The extraction of microplastics from sediment matrices proves to be difficult, as particles can be trapped in the matrix during density separation, one of the most common methods of microplastic separation. Another issue with sediment matrices is that they may contain components such as clay, which is low density and can easily resuspend, coating microplastic particles and interfering with analysis by µFTIR. This study focuses on the use of a novel tool, the Sediment-Microplastic Isolation (SMI) unit, in the density separation of microplastics from lake and river sediments. The SMI unit eases the difficulty in processing sediment samples, utilizing a ball valve that can close and prevent the resuspension of sediment particles. This study investigates the efficacy of this method while also generating microplastics data for sediments from 18 lakes and 7 rivers across Minnesota, which will be used to provide a spatial assessment of microplastics in sediments across the state.
Topic Area(s): Contaminants of Emerging Concern, Engineering Solutions and Applications, Lakes
Session ID: 1022 – A Study of Organic Contaminant and Escherichia Coli Levels in Stormwater Runoff and Their Removal via Biochar-Amended Treatment Systems
Primary Author: Johanna Jernberg, Natural Resources Research Institute
The goal of this study was to estimate the potential for reducing inputs of organic contaminants to Agate Bay following the installation of a biochar-amended stormwater filtration system. While the purpose of the system (to be constructed in 2024) is to address Escherichia coli (E. coli) pollution, we hypothesized that this system will also be effective for removal of organic contaminants such as pesticides. Passive samplers were deployed in a drainage system in Two Harbors throughout one field season to determine time-weighted concentrations of 13 target analytes, including pesticides and compounds from vehicle fluids. Pesticides including atrazine, diuron, and imidacloprid were detected in nearly all passive samplers, indicating time-weighted concentrations in runoff ranging from 0.1 – 50 ng/L. Further, intermittently dosed column tests were carried out to evaluate E. coli and organic contaminant removal using the same biochar to be installed in the system in Agate Bay. Results from column tests showed that columns containing sand amended with biochar maintained effective removal of elevated levels of organic contaminants throughout 100 bed volumes, while rapid breakthrough was observed in columns containing only sand. Interestingly, no significant improvements in E. coli removal were observed for the biochar-amended columns, as all columns showed effective removal of E. coli throughout the experimental duration. However, the biochar-amended columns maintained substantially faster drainage rates, suggesting that biochar amendment still offered performance benefits. These findings suggest that amendment of stormwater filtration systems with biochar to manage E. coli may have additional benefits in terms of hydraulic performance and treatment of dissolved organic contaminants. Future work on this project will involve measuring organic contaminants in runoff to Agate Bay following installation of the full scale system, with an anticipated end date of May 2025.
Topic Area(s): Best Management Practices (BMPs), Contaminants of Emerging Concern, Stormwater
Session ID: 1049 – Characterizing Hydrological Transport Pathways of Chronic Wasting Disease in Minnesota Watersheds
Primary Author: Anu Wille, University of Minnesota
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurodegenerative prion disease found in deer, moose, and elk. Cases of CWD in Minnesota have risen considerably over the last few years, raising wildlife, environmental, and public health concerns. Infectious prions enter the environment through bodily fluids or decomposing carcasses of infected individuals and can persist for at least fifteen years in soil and water. Through field observation and laboratory experimentation, we observed that prions readily partition to the particulate fraction of environmental waters, suggesting that hydrological transport of prions is likely sediment-facilitated. To effectively contain the spread of CWD in the environment, it is imperative to predict prion transport times and pathways in the context of specific landscape and watershed conditions. Our purpose is to characterize the hydrological transport of prions through Minnesota watersheds at multiple scales. Through spatial analysis, we mapped surface flow pathways from CWD hotspots in Minnesota to identify how they overlap with major rivers and regions of high soil erosion. Based on in-stream measurements and sediment characterization, we used empirical equations to predict sediment mobilization conditions and transport rates in CWD-contaminated regions in Minnesota with diverse flow regimes. In order to model subsurface prion transport, we began conducting flow-through column experiments testing various flow rates and soil matrices. This project is expected to conclude in Spring 2026.
Topic Area(s): Contaminants of Emerging Concern, Emerging Issues, Hydrology
Session ID: 1093 – Methane Emissions in Urban Lakes Across Salinity and Productivity Gradients
Primary Author: Zoe Plechaty, St. Croix Watershed Research Station
The use of road salt has resulted in increased salinity which alters the mixing regimes of lakes. The influx of salt to lakes increases the density gradient between the bottom and surface waters, which decreases mixing events and can lead to longer periods of hypoxia. This creates ideal conditions for biological methane production and methane accumulation in the hypolimnion. At the same time, cultural eutrophication of freshwaters increases the potential for methane production by bacteria and archaea associated with phytoplankton; however, the interactive and cumulative effects of salinization and eutrophication on methane production is not fully understood. We seek to fill this critical knowledge gap by creating methane budgets during the 2024 open water season for six lakes in the Twin Cities Metro Area that are experiencing symptoms of both salinization and eutrophication. Specifically, we address two hypotheses: (1) lakes with more saline bottom waters will not fully mix during lake turnover leading to higher hypolimnetic methane concentrations; and (2) lakes with higher algal biomass will have higher concentrations of methane throughout the water column. We will collect vertical profiles of methane, temperature, oxygen, conductivity, chlorophyll-a, and dissolved organic carbon monthly from each of the six study lakes and pair these data with measurements of methane diffusive flux, taken using floating gas chambers deployed at three lake depths. We will use a mass balance approach to quantify total methane production and storage to understand methane cycling in urban lakes across a gradient of lake productivity and salinity. We expect the greatest methane storage in lakes with high salinity and productivity. Due to the increased salinization and eutrophication of Minnesota’s urban lakes, it is imperative that we better quantify their synergistic effect on carbon cycling and the emission of potent greenhouse gasses such as methane.
Topic Area(s): Lakes
Track V: Special Session
A Ten-Year Update to Minnesota's Nutrient Reduction Strategy: The Underlying Science
Dave Wall; Laura Christianson; Marco Graziani; Reid Christianson; Matt Drewitz; Julie Westerlund
Join us to learn about the foundational scientific research guiding the revision of Minnesota’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS). Discover key findings and engage with the expert speaker panel as we prepare to finalize the revisions by 2025. Don't miss this opportunity to contribute to shaping Minnesota's approach to nutrient management. All speakers will participate in the panel and take questions from the audience.
Concurrent Session V
Track I: Stormwater Beyond Pipes and Pavement 😊
Session ID: 1036 – Small Cities, Big Challenges: Climate Resiliency Modeling Approaches for Populations under 10,000
Primary Author: Megan Lukas, WHKS
Minnesota communities are facing new challenges in stormwater planning and management due to more frequent and intense rainfall. All communities, regardless of size, share a common goal of developing plans that safeguard their residents and infrastructure. Climate resiliency planning helps cities prepare for and mitigate damage from extreme rainfall events. However, larger cities can often modify an existing stormwater model to account for increased rainfall, whereas smaller cities often lack a complete inventory of their stormwater infrastructure. Our presentation compares solutions and lessons learned from developing stormwater models and climate resiliency plans for Byron and La Crescent, two communities in southeast Minnesota that received MPCA Small Community Climate Resilience Planning Grants. Key challenges for both communities were outdated stormwater infrastructure inventories, limited resources, and big expectations from local decision makers.
Byron, located on a hilltop, faces costly damage at its downstream wastewater plant due to extreme flooding. By developing a 2D model of the city and collaborating with City staff, the team identified key areas at-risk of future flooding and optimized future regional storage development to reduce flooding. La Crescent, located on the Mississippi River valley, faces challenges from high river levels and localized street flooding which impede emergency vehicle and residential access. Our approach focused on collecting stormwater infrastructure data and developing a 1D/2D model for one upland drainage area to optimize the stormwater network. We also developed a stage discharge rating curve and 2D fill model to optimize raising road elevations to maintain access during floods within the Mississippi River floodplain. We look forward to sharing our modeling methods and results and hope our experiences and lessons learned will help other communities develop cost-effective approaches to climate resilience planning.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Engineering Solutions and Applications, Flood Protection
Session ID: 1072 – Thinking Outside the Box (Literally): The Solution to Hillsboro’s Flooding Concerns
Primary Author: Luke LaMoore, AE2S
The City of Hillsboro, ND is located approximately halfway between Fargo and Grand Forks. Within the Red River Valley, the city shares the same stormwater problem with the rest of the region, it’s flat. This presentation will share how one community solved this common problem to manage flooding in its community.
The City previously made stormwater improvements by addressing anecdotal concerns with minor updates such as extra catch basins. With little overall improvement, the City came to AE2S for assistance in creating a stormwater master plan to understand their stormwater needs and to identify stormwater projects that best address their issues.
With the existing conditions model completion, it was determined that the majority of Hillsboro’s storm sewer trunkline2 were undersized, and that many of the streets experienced unacceptable levels of flooding. However, given the city’s lack of elevation change, designing any storm sewer system with enough grade and capacity would be a challenge. After many iterations of trunkline upsizing, entire new trunklines added, and replacement of circular pipe with concrete box culverts, it was determined practically infeasible to “storm sewer our way out” of these flood problems.
So AE2S came up with a new solution, switching from the idea of using flow capacity to instead using live storage. In collaboration with the City, AE2S identified key areas to be used as dry detention ponds linked directly to the existing trunklines. These dry ponds would be filled by the trunklines during storm events, providing enough storage low enough to address the street flooding, and then the ponds drain back into the trunkline once the storm has passed. These ponds were placed primarily in locations bordering yet-to-be-developed land, therefore as they can be resized with future development in mind.
The City has decided to approve of this mitigation approach and is currently coordinating internally to move forward with the dry pond design.
Topic Area(s): Engineering Solutions and Applications, Flood Protection, Stormwater
Session ID: 1035 – Reimagining Tax-Forfeited Lots for Green Stormwater Initiatives and Community-Focused Urban Agriculture
Primary Author: Della Schall Young, Young Environmental Consulting Group, LLC
To adapt to a rapidly changing climate, water resource managers and professionals are being pushed to new limits in problem-solving. Hennepin County’s recent work to reimagine unused tax-forfeited lots as mixed-use urban stormwater management and agriculture plots showcases the creativity and persistence needed to help face climate change head-on.
The Hennepin County Urban Agriculture and Green Initiatives Implementation Plan blends community engagement with key data indicators to screen and prioritize County-owned sites for new, climate-smart uses in line with the Hennepin County Climate Action Plan.
Young Environmental crafted the implementation plan by diving into significant data on the lots. Our team screened dozens of sites for various criteria, including technical specifications and opportunities for environmental justice in the City of Minneapolis Green Zones. Using both environmental and societal screening factors, we created site-specific fact sheets highlighting opportunities for each site to house green infrastructure like rain gardens or urban agriculture like fruit orchards.
In 2024, Hennepin County will employ the implementation plan and advance stakeholder engagement needed to build buy-in for using the existing lots in new ways. Unused land can be transformed into community-led hubs for treating stormwater, storing flood water, promoting water reuse, and creating green space and pollinator habitat to cool temperatures in dense urban landscapes. The implementation plan also includes educational guidance on practice types, providing a menu of options for non-technical users based on the neighborhood site’s access to water, levels of shade and sun, or history of flooding.
The resulting green initiatives will empower community members to create impactful and unique projects while advancing the County’s bold goal to be net zero in carbon emissions by 2050.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency
Session ID: 1115 – Stormwater Reuse for Irrigation: From Planning to Implementation
Primary Author: Jennifer Koehler, Barr Engineering
Ramsey County – Parks & Recreation, Soil and Water Conservation Division secured funding through the Board of Water and Soils Resources (BWSR) Clean Water Fund to perform the Ramsey County Stormwater Reuse Assessment. The primary objective was to perform a county-wide assessment to identify potential opportunities for stormwater reuse for irrigation in order to conserve groundwater and benefit surface water quality. Throughout the process, Ramsey County engaged with the various watershed management organizations (WMOs) and districts as stakeholders and potential project partners to provide input to this study.
Barr assisted Ramsey County on this study, which was completed in four phases. The first phase leveraged county-wide spatial (GIS) datasets to identify feasible sites. From there, these sites were ranked to identify the most promising sites, based on the estimated reuse, additional spatial data and scoring criteria, which weighted more heavily to parameters directly tied to the project goals. In the second phase, County staff engaged with landowners for the top sites to gauge interest in potential reuse at the site, and if landowners were in support, field visits were conducted at those sites. Phase 3 included development and evaluation of reuse project concepts and planning-level cost estimates for each of the potential sites. The final phase included report development documenting the study results.
We will be highlighting two stormwater reuse projects identified through the county-wide study that are in the process of being implemented, including:
- Pioneer Park Stormwater Reuse: Implemented by the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District in partnership with the City of Little Canada, with construction to be completed in the summer 2024
- Polar Lakes Park Stormwater Reuse: Feasibility study completed by the Vadnais Lakes Watershed Management Organization in partnership with White Bear Township with the goal of pursuing grant funding
Topic Area(s): Water Reuse
Track II: Innovating, Educating About, and Maintaining Stormwater Treatment Features
Session ID: 1087 – Showcasing Water Quality Through Park Design: Hasenbank Stormwater Park
Primary Author: Marcy Bean, Barr Engineering
2024 marks the completion of a new park designed and engineered to showcase natural stormwater processes: Hasenbank Stormwater Park. A partnership between South Washington Watershed District and City of Woodbury, Hasenbank Park was developed to protect water quality downstream in Powers Lake while providing an experience for park users to see and understand the water cleaning process through beautiful water control structures, artwork, and interactions.
For this project, Barr’s multidisciplinary design team transformed a barren field into a landmark by sculpting the land to create intriguing water movement and a beautiful visitor experience. Water is pumped from an adjacent wetland complex, that was delivering nutrients to Powers Lake, to a series of artful infiltration basins that serve to filter stormwater and recharge groundwater. This innovative park achieves multiple benefits of providing a unique place for people to experience, diverse habitats, education, and water quality improvement. Sustainability, biodiversity, soil health, and resiliency were priorities in design, combining the best of a biological solution with engineered framework.
Topic Area(s): Green Infrastructure, Stormwater, Social Science/Human
Session ID: 1028 – Maplewood Mall Stormwater Features: 15 Years of Lessons Learned
Primary Author: Erin Anderson Wenz, Barr Engineering Company
In 2009, the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (RWMWD) embarked on a bold plan to retrofit Maplewood Mall’s 35 acre commercial parking lot with stormwater features that would capture, infiltrate or filter stormwater that would otherwise travel downstream, untreated, to Kohlman Lake, which was impaired by excess phosphorus from its tributary watershed. From 2009 to 2012, the RWMWD successfully installed 55 rainwater gardens (19 of which have enhanced sand filters), 6, 733 sf permeable pavers, 1 mile of tree trenches, 375 trees, and a 5, 700 gal cistern that catches roof runoff. Together, these features capture 20 million gallons of storm water per year intercepted from the parking lot (67% of the annual total in an average year of precipitation).
Key and unique elements of this project were the meticulous development of specifications for soil and iron enhanced mixes that would promote infiltration and/or filtration to reduce phosphorus and sediment loads to Kohlman Lake. Another was the design of the tree trenches which were adapted from designs by urban tree experts in Stockholm, Sweden, and were the first of their kind in the United States.
In the years since installation, these features have experienced wet cycles, drought, heatwaves, wind, snow, and thousands upon thousands of cars and mall patrons. Some features have performed as well or better than expected. Others have had mixed success or have even required rebuilding or re-planting. Tree trench performance, in particular, has been varied, attributable to tree trench configuration, tree species, and more. RWMWD has learned a lot since 2009. This presentation will share these lessons learned, and how RWMWD has applied them to other parking lot projects (large and small) in the years since the construction of the Maplewood Mall Stormwater Stormwater Retrofit project.
Topic Area(s): Best Management Practices (BMPs), Green Infrastructure, Stormwater
Session ID: 1024 – Maplewood Mall Maintenance and Educational Features: 15 Years of Lessons Learned
Primary Author: Paige Ahlborg, Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District
In 2009, the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (RWMWD) embarked on a bold plan to retrofit Maplewood Mall’s 35 acre commercial parking lot with stormwater features that would treat stormwater that would otherwise travel downstream, untreated, to Kohlman Lake, which was impaired by excess phosphorus from its tributary watershed. From 2009 to 2012, the RWMWD successfully installed 55 rainwater gardens, 6,733 sf permeable pavers, 1 mile of tree trenches, 375 trees, and a 5,700 gal cistern that catches roof runoff. Together, these features capture 20 million gallons of storm water per year intercepted from the parking lot (67% of the annual total in an average year of precipitation).
The project installation and subsequent pollutant removal was a success and the focus quickly shifted to ongoing maintenance. From the start, RWMWD knew maintenance of an installation this size, with so many elements, would be a major undertaking. RWMWD took on the role of maintenance over the years to ensure consistency of maintenance activities as mall ownership transitioned. In doing so, RWMWD kept detailed records of activities and costs, including rebuilding and replanting where and when needed.
Along with water quality improvements, education was a major goal of the mall project. RWMWD hoped to teach mall patrons about urban stormwater quantity and quality issues which is a challenge in a bustling mall parking lot. RWMWD pursued its educational goals for the project through the implementation of an interactive cistern that collects water from the mall roof, educational signage and artistic elements at the mall’s main entrances, rain garden signs, and hundreds of tree bands marking the tree trenches. This presentation will cover RWMWD’s lessons learned over the past 15 years of Maplewood Mall maintenance and education, and how the RWMWD approaches similar projects today.
Topic Area(s): Best Management Practices (BMPs), Education and Citizen Involvement, Operation and Maintenance of BMPs
Session ID: 1111 – Establishing a Collaborative Vision for Regional Stormwater Management at 325 Blake Road
Primary Author: Andrew Judd, HDR
15 years ago, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) recognized an opportunity with a 17-acre aging industrial site bordering their Creek. The property was a missing link in the Minnehaha Creek Greenway, is located next to a planned METRO Green Line station, and has two urban stormwater discharge points that drain 270 acres directly into Minnehaha Creek.
The concept involved having MCWD retain a 4-acre portion of the site for regional stormwater treatment, riparian preservation, and public amenities; and foster development of the remaining 13 acres of the parcel with water-centric residential, commercial, and public spaces that would complement and enhance the MCWD site. In 2019, MCWD began advancing towards construction with an extensive range of stakeholders, including:
- City of Hopkins
- MetroTransit
- Three Rivers Park District
- Hennepin County
- Neighborhood residents and business owners
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
MCWD and the design team understood the importance of transforming MCWD’s original vision into a shared vision amongst the stakeholders to successfully advance the project. Several public listening sessions were held to establish public priorities. These priorities were carried into a design charette with public and private partners including elected officials, planners, designers, developers, architects, and engineers. Over two days, approximately 30 participants engaged in a creative and collaborative process to refine and establish concurrence on the site layout and objectives.
The design continues to follow the charette concept very closely demonstrating the value of establishing a collaborative vision through a robust stakeholder coordination process for complex project.
This presentation will focus on reviewing key elements of project planning, stakeholder coordination, and the design charrette collaboration that helped establish consensus with key partners and enhance the project design.
Topic Area(s): Stakeholder & Community Engagement, Stormwater, Watershed Management
Track III: Climate Impacts on Lake Water Quality
Session ID: 1097 – Contrasting Patterns of Algal, Cyanobacterial, and Cyanotoxin Production in Lake of the Woods and Upper and Lower Red Lake
Primary Author: Mark Edlund, Science Museum of MN/St Croix Watershed Research Station
Lake of the Woods and the Red Lakes can experience significant cyanobacterial blooms despite minimal watershed disturbance in the Red Lakes and extensive point source management in Lake of the Woods. Both systems share similar basin characteristics such as average depth and watershed area:lake surface area ratios, highlighting the role of in-lake processes in driving cyanobacterial blooms. For example, past research has shown internal phosphorus (P) loading in Lake of the Woods is the primary source of P during the summer growing season. Increases in the availability of P relative to other nutrients, such as nitrogen (N) and silicon (Si), may promote the growth of cyanobacteria over other algal taxa such as green algae and diatoms. Using multiple years of water quality monitoring on Lake of the Woods and the Red Lakes, coupled with an intensive sampling year in 2023 targeting cyanotoxins and potential limiting nutrients, we sought to characterize the relationships between nutrient availability, algal community composition, and cyanotoxin production. We use dissolved and total nutrient data, nutrient ratios including N, P, and Si, algal biomass, and relative community composition, and lake physical properties to assess the controls on cyanobacterial blooms in these systems. We document the spatial and temporal variation in algal and cyanobacterial proliferation, toxin production rates, and toxin types in relation to nutrient availability throughout both lake basins. Although Red Lakes and Lake of the Woods share an origin in glacial Lake Agassiz, they have experienced significantly different recent anthropogenic histories affecting nutrient loading. Evaluating patterns in seasonal nutrient concentrations in the context of algal production and cyanotoxins in these contrasting large lakes can provide insights into the impact of inherent lake characteristics versus external influences and inform strategies for effective cyanobacterial bloom prediction and mitigation.
Topic Area(s): Lakes, Nutrients, Water Resource Sustainability
Session ID: 1012 – Understanding and Improving Minnesota's Lake Water Quality in a Changing Climate
Primary Author: Suzi Clark, University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership
Minnesota's lakes are critical to the state's public health, economy, and culture. However, due to climate change, these lakes have been warming and are expected to continue warming, leading to degraded water quality and increases in harmful algal blooms (HABs). Certain freshwater HABs are expected to intensify because of increasing water temperatures alone, causing large fish kills, impacting wildlife, and prohibiting recreation. Freshwater HABs have thus far primarily been a concern in the lower Great Lakes like Lake Erie and other heavily developed lakes, but anecdotal evidence suggests they are becoming more prevalent even in Minnesota's pristine northern lakes. In this study we combined high-resolution (4 km/2.5 mi) climate projections for the state of Minnesota with temperature-growth curves for Microcystis, a common toxin-producing HAB, to isolate the effect of warming lake surface temperatures on HAB timing and intensity. The downscaled climate projections include lake surface temperatures for 75 of Minnesota's largest inland lakes across three climate scenarios and four time periods (historical, mid-21st century, late-21st century, and end of 21st century). This work is still in progress, but we anticipate analyzing and comparing projected changes to the timing and intensity of Microcystis HABs across North, Central, and South Minnesota. We will also compare results between time horizons and climate scenarios to project in which time period and climate scenario these HABs are likely to become the greatest concern. By indicating the regions and time of year when lakes are likely to be most at-risk for toxic HABs, this study can inform efficient monitoring and remediation of lake water quality, thereby improving human and ecosystem health. In the presentation, we will share both the preliminary results of our analysis and how we are incorporating our projections into online data visualization tools and existing UMN Extension programming.
Topic Area(s): Aquatic Biota, Climate Change/Resiliency, Lakes
Session ID: 1011 – Characterizing Changes in Cyanobacterial Abundance and Function in Remote Northern Minnesota Lakes
Primary Author: Mari Leland, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Croix Watershed Research Station
The increase in occurrence, intensity, and toxicity of Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) presents a pressing environmental challenge, notably in the pristine, nutrient-poor lakes of northern Minnesota. Understanding how climate and land use change have altered the algal community composition of lakes often requires long-term data that are limited for aquatic systems, especially remote lakes; however, paleolimnological study of lake sediments allows us to reconstruct ecological conditions such as nutrient concentrations and algal community composition. In this study, we use dated sediment cores collected from eight lakes within northern Minnesota’s Superior National Forest to relate changes in nutrient availability and lake physical structure to Cyanobacterial abundance, composition, and function. Through genomics, we assess the historical prevalence of different Cyanobacterial taxa, alongside the presence of genes vital for nitrogen fixation and toxin production. This analysis will allow us to determine the extent of Cyanobacterial proliferation and toxicity over time.
By correlating these biological changes with alterations in nutrient availability and lake thermal structures, we hope to show how these lakes have adapted to past environmental changes and predict how they might respond to future climatic shifts. Understanding whether and how CyanoHABs have intensified due to human-induced climate change is crucial for developing strategies to mitigate and manage these increasingly frequent and severe blooms. This knowledge is essential not only for ecological health but also for maintaining the pristine quality of Minnesota’s water resources in the face of ongoing environmental change.
Topic Area(s): Aquatic Biota, Climate Change/Resiliency, Lakes
Session ID: 1044 – Paleolimnological Indicators of Eutrophication in Remote, Low-Nutrient Lakes in the Superior National Forest, Minnesota
Primary Author: Lienne Sethna, Science Museum of Minnesota – St. Croix Watershed Research Station
Increasing reports of harmful algal blooms by cyanobacteria (cyanoHABs) from remote, low-nutrient, northern lakes within Minnesota’s Superior National Forest have prompted a paradigm shift in our understanding of the linkages between anthropogenic nutrient loading and cyanoHAB occurrence. Previous research in this region has shown that shallow lakes (<10 m) with observed cyanoHABs were sensitive to internal phosphorus (P) loading; however, a lack of long-term monitoring data hinders our understanding of whether the rise in cyanoHAB occurrence has occurred under recent climate change or if these lakes have supported cyanobacterial blooms for the last ~150 years. In this study, we use dated sediment cores collected from eight lakes within the Superior National Forest to track changes in phosphorus (P) dynamics, algal community composition, and diatom-inferred ecological conditions. Taken together, these paleolimnological proxies of environmental change will allow us to characterize if and how cyanoHABs have increased in frequency or intensity with changes in lake mixing regime. Preliminary data show that lakes with observed cyanoHABs have increased in total P accumulation, cyanobacterial biomass, and the proportion of planktonic diatoms over the last 75 years. These results suggest that lakes experiencing contemporary cyanoHABs have become more sensitive to internal loading as they become more polymictic due to changes in their thermal structure. Our research shows that shallow, remote lakes in northern Minnesota have been responding to a warming climate since the 1950s, resulting in changes to their mixing regimes, internal nutrient loading rates, and algal community composition.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Lakes, Nutrients
Track IV: Beyond the Code: Innovative Stormwater Management Practices
Session ID: 1103 – Stormwater Management: A 4-State Comparison
Primary Author: Emily Stephens, Windsor Engineers
Watershed Districts and Cities across MN are constantly challenged with keeping up with stormwater management for linear projects, and new and redevelopment sites. What can we learn from the way other states regulate and manage their stormwater runoff? Working with stormwater in multiple states on multiple different stormwater projects, development projects, and transportation projects, there is often a fresh perspective with new ideas that MN regulators can benefit from. While MN tends to put significant (and justified) effort into the operations and maintenance of stormwater facilities, which can hinder what types of treatment or flow control basins are allowed, it can lead to leniency in the amount of treatment provided on site (due to site constraints, etc.). This contrasts very intriguingly with other states that tend to focus more on requiring that every site meets treatment and flow control requirements, without allowing variances, and instead, they allow variances on parking, setbacks, and the long term operations and maintenance of the facilities. Additionally, many major cities like Portland and Seattle allow significant stormwater credits for other LID design components, like tree trenches and vegetative filter strips, and they offer incentives for zero stormwater discharges from a site. In this session we will walk through the varying MT, WA and OR overarching stormwater codes, various types of stormwater facilities that these states utilize, their pros and cons, and how the regulating agencies manage (and struggle with) the review and implementation of these regulations. Ultimately, we will all join in solidarity over the challenges that we face with stormwater management regulation, design, review and ultimately protection and hopefully gain insight on new ways to manage and implement stormwater management practices.
Topic Area(s): Policy and Standards
Session ID: 1086 – Partnering with Local Governments to Optimize Stormwater Management Outcomes Through Code and Ordinance Reviews
Primary Author: Jessy Carlson, Minnesota Sea Grant
What do local codes and ordinances have to do with climate resilience and stormwater management? And what are northeastern Minnesota municipalities telling us about opportunities to increase community resilience through municipal regulatory updates? This presentation will explore these questions, drawing from Minnesota Sea Grant’s experiences conducting green stormwater infrastructure code audits with 13 municipalities along Minnesota’s North Shore. These communities ranged from one mid-sized city (Duluth, MN), to exurban townships, to Cook County, which has the lowest population density of all Minnesota counties. This project began in the fall of 2022 and will be completed by early 2025.
Key takeaways from our collaboration with local governments include specific capacity gaps identified by municipal staff that impact local governments’ ability to optimize their stormwater regulation and watershed management; needs and opportunities for improved education and outreach to local governments; and ideas for adapting green stormwater infrastructure projects and communications to meet the unique needs of rural communities. These insights highlight future stormwater research, extension program, and agency service opportunities.
Topic Area(s): Green Infrastructure, Policy and Standards, Stormwater
Session ID: 1064 – Building Watershed Awareness Through Artistic Investment
Primary Author: Kyle Axtell, South Washington Watershed District
The South Washington Watershed District (SWWD) has a long history of developing innovative and impactful water resource improvement projects. Public engagement and promotion of its work has typically been achieved through traditional avenues like interpretive signage, printed media, and web-based tools such as SWWD’s website and social media. Drawing upon guidance from Capitol Region Watershed District’s “Field Guide for Working with Artists,” SWWD has recently undertaken two artistic initiatives that have become integral to its work.
During development of SWWD’s Hasenbank Stormwater Park in Woodbury, discussions centered on finding new ways to engage and inform the public about how the system functions. SWWD worked with Barr Engineering on a robust public art RFP process that resulted in two local artists, Chris Harrison and Aaron Dysart, creating three interpretive sculptures to be installed within the newly redeveloped city park. Barr’s designers also contributed an interpretive installation of their own to round out the artistic additions to the project. In total, SWWD invested just over $200,000 to bring its artistic vision to life at Hasenbank Stormwater Park.
SWWD is also utilizing the arts to showcase the unique landscapes, ecosystems and natural resources of southern Washington County as it prepares for its upcoming watershed management plan update. Through a funded artist-in-residence (AiR) opportunity, local photographer Sarah Lilja is serving as SWWD’s first artist-in-residence in 2023–2024. Working with Sarah, SWWD staff has developed an AiR program that it intends to offer in future years with varied artistic mediums.
With these arts programs, SWWD is incorporating unique ideas and views into its programs and projects and providing more creative visibility to the watershed and its natural resources, all while promoting and achieving water quality improvement. SWWD hopes its programs can be an example for other interested organizations.
Topic Area(s): Education and Citizen Involvement, Stakeholder & Community Engagement
Session ID: 1112 – Management Frameworks: A New Template for Successful Adaptive Management
Primary Author: Jack Distel, City of Bloomington
Adaptive management is a well-known tool among water managers. The steps are simple: evaluate, plan, execute, and repeat. Whether it is for shallow lake management, stream restoration, or implementing low impact development, the adaptive management approach can be utilized in a variety of ways and is often recommended in a project’s management plan.
However, management plans tend to lack the same adaptability they promote, especially when they need approval by a board of directors, city council, or other oversight process. Once a plan is approved it is difficult to change. Because adaptive management is an iterative process powered by change, management plans can quickly become outdated. This can lead to stakeholders feeling left out, cause disjointed decision making when staff turnover, and can miss opportunities for maximizing investment capital.
As such, The City of Bloomington has been experimenting with a new template: the management framework. Unlike most management plans, a management framework focuses on the process of adaptive management instead of the outcome of it. The resulting document is a procedure that can be used over a long period of time to facilitate a standardized management approach that maximizes investments, facilitates long term relationships with stakeholders, and is reactive to changing conditions. This presentation will discuss the learning process the City has gone through in our use of this new approach and how it can be replicated elsewhere.
Topic Area(s): Stakeholder & Community Engagement, Watershed Management
Track V: Special Session
Conservation Pays: Economics of Agricultural Water Quality Practices
Brad Jordahl Redlin, MDA; Keith Olander, Central Lakes College Ag & Energy Center; Britta Dornfeld, Environmental Initiative
As the push for protecting land and water through the agricultural industry grows, there is increasing interest in demonstrating positive economic outcomes from conservation farming practices. The Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, AgCentric and Minnesota State Agricultural Centers of Excellence, and the Headwaters Agriculture Sustainability Partnership are documenting the economics of conservation agriculture and have demonstrated improved environmental and financial performance of producers implementing whole-farm conservation.
Concurrent Session VI
Track I: Strategies for Climate Resiliency
Session ID: 1038 – Inundated by Flood Data: MnDOT’s Approach to Capturing, Storing, and Using Flood Documentation
Primary Author: Rachel Pichelmann, MnDOT
Throughout the past year, MnDOT has been compiling records from across the state to develop a flood database showing where and when flooding has impacted travelers and damaged MnDOT assets. This effort has involved coordination with many involved in emergency response, maintenance, hydraulics, and public engagement. Through this interdisciplinary work, MnDOT now has a statewide GIS-based dataset of known flood locations that can be used to estimate the impact of flooding on MnDOT and roadway users; demonstrate project need and support funding requests; address flood vulnerabilities through improved project scoping and design; reduce maintenance effort during flood response and recovery; improve flood preparedness and response; and validate results of the extreme flood vulnerability assessment. During this presentation, MnDOT’s TAMS HydInfra Coordinator and Hydraulic Resiliency Engineer will share challenges faced during this data review and compilation project, strategies for maintaining and improving the dataset, how project planners and engineers can access the data, and current and future applications of the data.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Flood Protection, GIS/LiDAR
Session ID: 1043 – Using Historical Rainfall to Predict Future Precipitation Extremes in the Midwest
Primary Author: Noah Gallagher, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Extreme rainfall events can have an outsized impact on stormwater systems and the populations who experience them. This presentation will share new analysis of over 1, 000 long-term rainfall monitoring stations in the upper Midwest and the evidence that events like the 2-year, 10-year and 100-year storm are increasing for the region. We tracked the number of large event occurrences in the study region over time and identified statistically significant increases in the frequency of these large events. Part of this research focused on identifying a turning point where the overall trend of larger and more frequent extreme events began, and what future events might look like if this trend continues. Simply knowing that big storms are getting bigger doesn’t provide a clear path for adaptation, so this presentation will also describe one possible framework for navigating a non-stationary climate. The presentation aims to help stormwater managers and practitioners better understand the rate of change and uncertainty associated with future storms and aid decision making concerning stormwater management systems and project performance under future extreme rainfall events.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Hydrology, Stormwater
Session ID: 1041 – Climate Resiliency Plans: Small, Medium, and Large Scales
Primary Author: Matt Metzger, Barr Engineering Co.
Long-term climate resilience requires implementation at scales ranging from local projects and communities to broader county, watershed and river basin jurisdictions. This presentation will offer an overview of completed climate resiliency planning tools at the scales of an individual project, municipality, county, watershed district/WMO and river basin. The examples presented are recently completed data-driven planning efforts from ND, MN and IA and have ongoing construction and implementation efforts. A blend of GIS mapping, hydrologic and hydraulic analysis results, vulnerability assessment and informative infographics were used for communicating the public-facing plans and community strategies with deliverables intended to engage stakeholders for input and action. Attendees will learn about the community/stakeholder goals, vulnerabilities, resilience strategies used across the completed plans, presented at varying geographic implementation scales. Common threads connecting the independent individual project examples will be highlighted for an important audience take-away.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Flood Protection, Water Resource Sustainability
Session ID: 1046 – A Blueprint for Flood-Resilient Communities: Using Modern Tools to Identify and Prioritize Solutions
Primary Author: Matthew Zelin, Hazen and Sawyer
Many communities throughout the country suffer from routine and often severe flooding due to a combination of riverine flooding, undersized stormwater collection systems, and/or tidal flooding. For most of these communities, an initial step is to develop detailed hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) models to assess runoff and where flooding has occurred. An initial challenge after developing the H&H models is prioritizing which flooding problems to address. This presentation will describe an approach to prioritizing which projects have the greatest flood reduction potential so that communities can make informed decisions. The presentation will draw on numerous, completed projects and case studies.
After the models have been developed and the flooding understood, a major challenge is how do communities identify the most crucial projects that will address flooding? Often there is so much pluvial flooding it is hard to determine where to spend resources. Because communities have a limited budget, it’s important to decide which flooding problems are worthy of investment. For several communities throughout the Country, from urban to semi-urban, Hazen has developed a methodology to categorize flooding risk areas, quantify the impact of the flooding on structures and infrastructure, and prioritize which risk areas should be selected for solutions. This methodology will be discussed along with examples from several cities throughout the Country.
The development of solutions and how to quantify the benefits will also be presented. Case studies will be used to show proposed concepts (pipe upsizing, above-ground storage, etc.), how the projects were evaluated using the hydraulic model, and the how benefit (reduction in flooding depth) were quantified. This methodology aligns with FEMA’s Benefit Cost Analysis approach which prepares communities to apply for financial support from a variety of partners.
Topic Area(s): Climate Change/Resiliency, Stakeholder & Community Engagement, Stormwater
Track II: Stormwater Basin Evaluation and Function
Session ID: 1054 – Fate and Transport of Lead in Urban Stormwater Catchment Ponds
Primary Author: Christof Zweifel, University of Minnesota
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro Area contains lead emissions from the downtown garbage burner, regional airports, smelters, lead paint, and the legacy of leaded gasoline. Stormwater catchment areas have the potential to capture lead in sediment and runoff. Geochemical transformations that lead undergoes within the chemically stratified ponds determine the concentration, chemical speciation, and bioaccessibility of lead, which control the toxic effects of lead on pond ecology and the potential for lead to leach out from pond sediments. We compared lead concentrations and mineralogy in the sediment of three urban stormwater ponds to nearby lead-contaminated soils, and will continue to build a database of metals in pond sediments within the metro in summer 2024. Concentrations of lead and other metals in sediments, soils, and pond waters were measured with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and inductively coupled plasma—mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Lead in urban soils ranges from 20 to 2, 000 ppm, with many sites above the EPA’s 200 ppm action level for lead in soils. Sediments at the bottom of the three stormwater ponds range from 23 to 300 ppm lead. Sediment lead concentrations in two out of three ponds exceed 200 ppm, with lead levels higher at greater sediment depths in these two ponds. Dissolved chromium, nickel, and copper are concentrated by 10x within sediment porewater versus pond surface and bottom waters. Dissolved lead concentrations in porewater range from 0 to 0.002 ppm, which is not significantly different from surface or bottom waters. Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) will be used in summer 2024 to look for highly insoluble lead phosphate minerals forming in stormwater pond sediments, the proportions of lead adsorbed onto iron and humic substances, and any other prevalent forms of lead. The ability of stormwater ponds to capture metals may affect pond ecology and the possibility to decrease metals toxicity through amendments or remediation.
Topic Area(s): Contamination/Remediation, Monitoring, Stormwater
Session ID: 1085 – Understanding Controls of Stormwater Pond Dynamics to Guide Water Quality Management
Primary Author: Jacques Finlay, University of Minnesota
Ponds and small water bodies are common features of many urban landscapes because of their roles in reducing impacts of stormwater runoff. Despite their prevalence, relatively little is known about how environmental conditions influence their functioning for nutrient cycling and removal. This talk integrates recent results from a series of ongoing projects studying the factors that regulate physical and biochemical conditions in ponds, toward identification of management strategies to improve them. Spatially extensive sampling across a representative size range of urban ponds showed three distinct groups characterized by either well mixed ponds with relatively high water column dissolved oxygen (DO), stratified conditions with strong gradients in temperature, road salt and oxygen, or small, shallow sites with very low water column DO. Total phosphorus (TP) concentrations in ponds were highly spatially variable, with highest TP (>1 mg/L) corresponding to small ponds with the greatest proportion of anoxic sediment area due to floating vegetation dominance. Analyses of time series in intensively studied ponds revealed similar patterns with peak TP occurring during periods of strongest water column anoxia during periods of strong stratification and heavy floating plant cover. Water column mixing was surprisingly variable with many ponds strongly stratified during much of the year due to wind sheltering and road salt. We will translate these research results to address potential management and design aspects toward improved stormwater pond functions for water quality.
Topic Area(s): Green Infrastructure, Nutrients, Stormwater
Session ID: 1030 – Evaluating Cost Effective Stormwater Pond Bmps in Woodbury, MN Using Barley Straw, Fish Biomanipulations, or Water Column Nano-Iron Media
Primary Author: Connor McComas, Blue Water Science
Several stormwater pond BMP approaches were evaluated to assess their feasibility for improving water quality in urban stormwater ponds and downstream waterbodies in the Twin Cities metro area. The objectives were to improve pond water quality by providing potential BMP retrofits at a reduced footprint and cost. Barley straw, fish manipulations (benthivorous fish control), or nano-iron media were employed over several years in a number of eutrophic Woodbury stormwater ponds as a subset of their comprehensive watershed management program. Pelletized barley straw enclosed in mesh bags appears to increase microbial activity and provide conditions suitable to promote diverse autotrophs and heterotrophs while shifting away from cyanobacterial dominated conditions. Although successful in some ponds, it doesn’t work in every case. Fish community impacts in urban ponds appear to be significant when an excessive number of bullheads, fathead minnows, or goldfish are present. Fish populations in stormwater ponds are variable and ephemeral but low fish populations are correlated with improved aquatic plant distribution and lower TP concentrations. However, fish removal and manipulations are challenging in storm ponds. Nano-iron impregnated on permeable media enclosed in mesh bags in the pond’s water column removes phosphate. In 5 ponds with nano-iron media, based on May–September TP averages, TP did not decrease in the first year but was reduced by an average of 46% in the second year while 19 other stormwater ponds without nano-iron media had an average TP decrease of 3%. This BMP has potential water quality benefits at a low cost.
Topic Area(s): Best Management Practices (BMPs), Nutrients, Stormwater
Session ID: 1034 – Teamwork Makes the Dream Work – A Whiskey Creek Funding Story
Primary Author: Bridget Osborn, HR Green, Inc.
The City of Baxter collaborated with several partners to construct a regional stormwater wetland on an abandoned golf course to address their TMDL goals. The chosen site, a drainage ditch known as Whiskey Creek, channels runoff from roughly 400 acres of impervious surface in the city’s commercial core to the Mississippi River. Water quality modeling revealed that Whiskey Creek annually discharges roughly 140, 189 pounds of total suspended solids (TSS) and 579.7 pounds of total phosphorus (TP) into the river. The stormwater wetland, positioned on the southern end of the former golf course, was designed to substantially reduce these pollutants. Features of the project include a large concrete forebay to facilitate maintenance and manage dredged materials, a multi-habitat zone wetland, and a native planting scheme to enhance biodiversity.
The project showed a projected reduction of 55, 775 pounds of TSS and 97.8 pounds of TP annually. Prior to the construction of the best management practice (BMP), it was necessary to remove and safely dispose of mercury contamination found in the soil at the former golf course’s greens and tee-boxes. This cleanup was completed in the summer of 2023, and construction of the BMP commenced that fall. Completion is slated for late spring 2024, with the establishment of native plantings to follow. Funding and design insights were generously provided by the Mississippi Headwaters Board, Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District, Enbridge, and the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society. This unique partnership was crucial, as the scope and cost of the BMP posed significant funding challenges. This presentation will explore the various challenges encountered and the lessons learned throughout the course of the project.
Topic Area(s): Best Management Practices (BMPs), Stormwater, Wetlands
Track III: DEI and Water Workforce
Session ID: 1078 – A DEIA Lens to Environmental Work
Primary Author: Elizabeth Boor, Nine Mile Creek Watershed District
The Nine Mile Creek Watershed District, with help from Zan Associates, recently completed a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility plan. This plan identifies the structural and institutional barriers within the organization that prevent equitable service and engagement with the public. The plan also contains specific, actionable steps to combat these identified barriers.
This presentation will explain why the Watershed District decided it needed a DEIA plan, will walk through the process of developing the plan, and share the plan outcomes and next steps for weaving equity into stormwater and environmental management.
Topic Area(s): Equity and Environmental Justice
Session ID: 1079 – Green Stormwater Infrastructure: Roadside Rain Gardens & Employment Pathways
Primary Author: Laura Scholl, Metro Blooms
Objectives: The City of Minneapolis is investing significant resources into the implementation and long term care of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) alongside roads. These projects reduce localized flooding, create pollinator habitat, and infiltrate stormwater from our roadways. They also create a unique training and employment opportunity as an expanded green infrastructure workforce is necessary to care for these projects long term. Minneapolis is partnering with Metro Blooms and the Blue Thumb partnership to host Sustainable Landcare Trainings for residents of Green Zone communities, ensuring the economic benefit from this investment stays within local communities, particularly those impacted by environmental injustices. We then hire trainees to inspect GSI projects, and eventually, provide long term care.
Results: Hundreds of roadside GSI projects have been installed in and by the City of Minneapolis over the last 3 years. Long term maintenance is now a primary focus. We began the training and employment pilot in 2023, offering two Sustainable Landcare Trainings and hiring 11 trainees to inspect 400 GSI sites within Minneapolis. Inspections are recorded through a GIS based system, completed on tablets in the field and then followed up on by a maintenance crew. Trainees are paid to attend training, and paid a higher wage to then inspect projects. While the current method doesn’t provide full time, year round employment, trainees are connected to long term work opportunities through partnerships and mentorship. We piloted this method for inspection and maintenance in 2023 and are expanding for 2024.
Takeaways: This presentation provides a case study reference for the implementation of GSI practices integrated with a long term care strategy that prioritizes workforce training. Attendees will learn about challenges encountered implementing GSI and a long term care strategy, successes, and potential for training and employment pathways.
Topic Area(s): Equity and Environmental Justice, Green Infrastructure, Operation and Maintenance of BMPs
Session ID: 1065 – Raising Awareness about Watershed Health and Conservation Careers
Primary Author: Kimberly Musser, Water Resources Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato
To increase environmental literacy and understanding of local watershed issues and to inspire the next generation of conservation stewards, a Mankato-area partnership has developed a framework to actively engage area middle, high school, and college students in environmental stewardship. The project is centered in the heart of Minnesota River Basin where there are significant water quality impairments and ecological challenges.
The framework includes the following elements:
- Day-Long Field Day – Every 10th grade biology student will participate in a life science field day at Minneopa State Park, learning at a series of stations from experts on topics including geology, prairie plants, Minnesota River fish, and macroinvertebrate sampling.
- Stewardship Activities – Interested students will have an opportunity to participate in monthly stewardship experiences. Stewardship projects will be located on school grounds so students will have the opportunity to learn restoration and stewardship techniques while working on prairie and pond restoration on their campuses working alongside environmental professionals.
- Recreational Skill Building – As a reward for service and participation, students will have the opportunity to paddle on area rivers, hike, or camp in area parks. During the outdoor adventures, students will learn recreational and team building skills, and gain leadership training.
This collaborative partnership links natural resource professionals with students to support environmental connection and to foster a stewardship ethic. Hands-on outdoor experiences will educate youth about watershed and ecosystem health, and clarify the many career paths they can pursue to play a role improving environmental conditions.
Topic Area(s): Education and Citizen Involvement, Stakeholder & Community Engagement, Social Science/Human
Session ID: 1059 – Creating with/for Water: An Artist-Led Drinking Water Community Engagement Effort in Little Falls
Primary Author: Britta Dornfeld, Environmental Initiative
The Source Water Protection Collaborative is made up of individuals from across Minnesota with experience in source water protection, community engagement, agriculture, and public health from nonprofits, higher education, farming, and different levels of state and local government. It is convened by the nonprofit Environmental Initiative and funded by a Minnesota Department of Health grant through the Minnesota Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment. The Collaborative piloted a project in 2023 to place an artist-in-residence in rural Minnesota, selecting Su Legatt, who worked with the City of Little Falls to collectively create and implement a project to engage community members around drinking water protection. Her project, Creating With and For Water, brought the community together to discuss drinking water through a series of workshops around paper making, storytelling, and illustrations in the fall of 2023. Su then used the materials from these workshops to create a series of broadsides she unveiled in December 2023. Su reproduced the broadsides into vinyl clings which are now available for distribution throughout the community. This presentation will explore the development, implementation, outcomes, and evaluation of this pilot project. It will offer lessons learned for those thinking about incorporating art into their community engagement and will discuss next steps for this work.
Topic Area(s): Education and Citizen Involvement
Track IV: Monitoring
Session ID: 1094 – Leveraging Long-Term Monitoring Data to Assess the Impact of Urbanization and Management on Nutrients in Lakes Across the Twin Cities
Primary Author: Catherine Polik, University of Minnesota
The Twin Cities Metro Area (TCMA) boasts some of the longest lake water quality records in the country. Volunteer programs like the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Citizen Lake Monitoring Program and the Metropolitan Council’s Citizen-Assisted Monitoring Program have performed over 55,000 sampling visits across more than 250 lakes in the TCMA to support lake management during the last 50 years. Coupled with monitoring data collected by city, county, and watershed organizations, this wealth of data allows us to assess the efficacy and longevity of different management strategies. Lake responses include sudden, but sometimes short-lived, improvements in water quality after interventions like alum treatments and gradual, but persistent, improvements in water quality over time driven by storm-water management. Many management actions target phosphorus (P), driving a broad trend in increased nitrogen to phosphorus ratios (N:P) across lakes in the TCMA. This trend is seen after both in-catchment and in-lake remediation efforts. It is unclear how this change in nutrient stoichiometry has impacted macrophytes, microbial communities, and downstream ecosystems. These results show that urban lakes are improving due to a variety of management actions that reduce P, but more studies are needed to understand the fate of N as we work to reverse eutrophication.
Topic Area(s): Lakes, Monitoring, Nutrients
Session ID: 1069 – Robots in Our Waters: Preferences and Policy Priorities Among Local Aquatic Resource Managers
Primary Author: Maeve-Aine Christlieb, College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences – University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Water quality monitoring is essential, imperative and also presents a number of logistical and resource challenges in a land of more than 10, 000 lakes like Minnesota. Since the mid 1950s, water sensors have evolved and automated water quality monitoring proliferated, increasing efficiency and improving data quality. Beyond automation are robotic advancements that build on these efficiencies. As the use of robotics in aquatic resource management becomes increasingly attractive, the complex decisions to use them increasingly emerge. While natural resource management decisions are long-recognized as most effective with public support, this is particularly important as robotic technology advances. Policy and regulation research of robots in public spaces is nascent (Mintrom et al. 2022; International Standard Organization 2024). To support the consideration of robotics in public administration contexts, Mintrom et al. developed a policy checklist. Grounded in trust, planning, and socio-technical transitions, their policy checklist promises a strong foundation to build from. To understand interest in and concerns related to aquatic robot monitoring, we conducted 12 in-depth interviews with local aquatic resource managers in Summer 2023. Two team members reviewed and coded the data and concurred participants brought up five of the seven policy checklist areas that Mintrom et al. developed, including: safety, privacy and ethics, productivity, aesthetics, and systemic innovation. Ideas related to equity and co-creation were absent from the discussions, however. Moving forward, this paper highlights the opportunity and priorities for policy development regarding the use of aquatic robots in public spaces.
Topic Area(s): Emerging Issues, Monitoring, Policy and Standards
Session ID: 1075 – Low-Cost, Real-Time Observational Buoys
Primary Author: Lincoln Meister, University of Minnesota Duluth/Graduate Research Assistant
In Lake Superior, 98% of buoy observations have occurred within an eight-month period during a typical year. Before the winter months, large, expensive buoys must be removed to prevent any damage from the ice. With varying ice coverage on the Great Lakes, large storms can occur without any data collection from surface water and marine meteorological recording instruments. As a result, there is almost no accurate warning of these waves, creating possibly preventable damage to coastal communities.
Creating low-cost, real-time observational buoys could allow for smart monitoring of coastal Great Lakes environments and storm waves as climate changes. Ongoing development has reduced cost, approximately 20% the industry standard with an even broader range of water quality sensors integrated into the data collection system and real-time telemetry. The buoy targets capturing wave height and direction, water and air temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen levels, and conductivity all in real-time and remote with the use of onboard solar panels. Wave statistics validation has begun with the use of different nearby sensors such as a Ruskin Pressure Sensor as well as a Nortek Signature 1000 Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler. Additionally, the buoy is roughly the size of a basketball, so traditional, large ship deployment is not needed and can be quickly placed and returned using a small boat.
With a decreased cost, fast deployment and retrieval, and minimal maintenance these buoys could be able to fill in the four-month gap in buoy observations in Lake Superior and beyond. The first buoy will be operational starting this summer. Objectives of this project include extending water observational periods in Lake Superior to increase coastal community safety during large storm events, and exploring the potential of these buoys across commercial, residential, recreational, and marine renewable energy sectors in the Great Lakes as well as Minnesota inland waters.
Topic Area(s): Engineering Solutions and Applications, Lakes, Monitoring
Session ID: 1070 – Exploring Technostress among Local Aquatic Resource Managers: Facilitators and Inhibitors in a Minnesota Sample
Primary Author: Md Mursalin Rahman Khandaker, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Water quality monitoring remains essential and increasingly challenging due to budget reductions, staffing, and significant public concern. The introduction of advanced technological solutions, such as aquatic robots, seems promising to address such water quality challenges, yet the potential for technostress among management personnel remains a critical factor to consider in their adoption. Technostress is the stress created by the use of information and communication technologies (Tarafdar et al., 2007) and can thwart technological adoption. In an effort to understand the role and prevalence of technostress with aquatic robot adoption, we created a mixed-method study among local aquatic managers in a water-rich US Midwestern state: Minnesota. Specifically, this study explored technostress through both interviews and surveys. Interviews in the summer of 2023 explored technostress among local aquatic managers broadly within water quality monitoring automation using aquatic robots. Interviews occurred through data saturation, at 12 interviews in this case. Dual coders reviewed transcribed interviews. Building on the interviews and technostress dimensions of inhibitors and creators (Tarafdar et al., 2007), a pilot survey was implemented among local aquatic personnel focused on perceptions of technostress inhibitors and creators. Perceptions ranged regarding inhibitors and creators, and, as expected, significant negative relationships emerged between them. The findings offer empirical support for both policymakers and watershed managers to devise strategies to optimally integrate robotic technologies by considering and mitigating potential technostress. Future research can explore broader samples, organizational perspectives, and broader technostress theory and adoption.
Topic Area(s): Emerging Issues, Monitoring, Watershed Management
Track V: Special Session
Drops of Change: Community-Centered Water
Tiff Sprague, University of Minnesota Natural Resources Research Institute; Sarah Roth, University of Minnesota Water Resources Center; Madison Rodman, University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program; Amelia (Emily) Kreiter, University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment; Mae Davenport, University of Minnesota Center for Changing Landscapes
Join us for a session on community-centered water science, engagement and policy creation. We’ll give you the secret ingredients and real-life examples to move towards actively employing inclusive community engagement practices in your work. Hear case studies from across Minnesota communities using inclusive and equitable approaches to community water science and stewardship. Then, facilitators will guide participants through an interactive, hands-on policy action planning workshop, where you’ll turn policy ideas into prioritized, actionable steps.