(KNSI) – The city of St. Cloud says it is over halfway to its goal of reducing sediment runoff into the Mississippi River by 70% by 2030.
An online resource details the public works initiatives started over a decade ago meant to improve the city’s drinking water. In 2009, boaters and staff began to notice brown runoff entering the Mississippi after storms. It was pouring into the river near where St. Cloud pulls tap water.
A comprehensive study was completed in 2012, showing that almost all of the contamination came from a 96-inch pipe that collects stormwater from a 367-acre area in the northeast part of the city. The zone is mostly commercial businesses and industrial factories.
St. Cloud teamed with the Benton County Soil and Water Conservation District for a comprehensive set of solutions. In 2015, they applied for a Clean Water Legacy Grant through the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources to purchase a street sweeper that uses pressurized air. It dislodges dirt and debris from roadways before it can be pulled into a storm drain.
Public Works crews built sumps, carveouts in the underground pipe system that dip below the rest of the network. When water flowing through the sump is slowed down, it drops off collected soil and debris. Each sump is vacuum cleaned a couple of times per year.
There has been plenty of work above ground, as well. A Clean Water Partnership Grant through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency allowed for the paving of a gravel parking lot. Although runoff remained, it is now filtered by a rain garden. Many city right-of-ways in the area used to be gravel or pavement. They are now fully planted, filled with grass and trees to catch sediment before it gets dumped into the Mississippi River.
The final piece of the puzzle are four regional treatment systems that catch sediment and phosphorous near Lincoln Avenue NE. The city believes it has accomplished about half of its initial sediment reduction goal.
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