This spring the Minnesota Legislature passed the Clean Water Legacy Act mandating the state to identify lakes and streams that fail to meet certain water-quality standards and to make reasonable progress toward improving them. According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, eight percent of Minnesota’s streams and fourteen percent of its lakes have been assessed—about 40 percent of those water bodies were deemed impaired.
If your business contributes basic pollutants—such as bacteria, mercury, nutrients or sediment—to a wastewater treatment plant that releases to an impaired water or your facility releases directly into an impaired water, you might be asked to reduce your load contributions. MnTAP can help your business reduce sources of mercury and nutrient loading—BOD, TSS and phosphorus.
For wastewater treatment plants, MnTAP and MPCA have just revised the Phosphorus Management Plan Guide to help POTWs develop their management and reduction plans. The guide outlines steps to work with local businesses.
