Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program

Real-Time Data to Estimate Sediment, Nutrient, and Hg Loading

from Northshore Lake Superior Streams

Project Richard Axler

Coordinator: Natural Resources Research Institute1
University of Minnesota-Duluth
5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811

Project Norm Will1, Elaine Ruzycki1 George Host1, Cindy Hagley2

Investigators: Jerry Henneck1, Todd Carlson3 Jesse Schomberg2 Marnie Lonsdale3
Gerry Sjerven1 Chris Kleist3, David Stark4
2
University of Minnesota-Sea Grant, Duluth, MN 55812
3
Stormwater Utility, City of Duluth, MN 55802
4
Cook County Soil & Water Conservation Department, Grand Marais, MN 55

Project Jesse Anderson, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Duluth, MN

Collaborators: Tim Tuominen, Joe Mayasich, Western L. Superior Sanitary District, Duluth, MN

March 31, 2008

Project No. 306-08-08

Contract No. A92533

NRRI Technical Report: NRRI/TR-2008/09

This project was funded in part under the Coastal Zone Management Act, by NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal
Resource Management, in cooperation with Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program. Additional support came
from the Natural Resources Research Institute, Sea Grant College, and Facilities Management Stormwater Program
at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the City of Duluth Stormwater Utility, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency-
Duluth, Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, South St. Louis SWCD, and the Cook County SWCD.
 Real-Time Data to Estimate Sediment, Nutrient, and Hg Loading
from Northshore Lake Superior Streams

I. Background:

An estimated 720 perennial and 127 intermittent streams flow into Lake Superior including 309
trout streams and their tributaries (>2100 miles) along the North Shore (NS) and St. Louis River
(SLR) estuary alone. The topography includes steep bedrock escarpments creating a high density
of stream corridors in relatively narrow, forested watersheds with steep gradients, thin erodible
soils, and typically low productivity, high-quality trout streams sensitive to urbanization and
rural development. Streams are particularly susceptible to factors raising water temperature and
increasing runoff of water and sediment, such as openings in riparian cover and canopy,
impervious surface within the watershed, road crossings and the potential increased frequency of
severe storms predicted by climate change models and already in evidence during the past
decade or so in parts of Minnesota. These streams ultimately discharge into the sensitive coastal
zone of ultra-oligotrophic Lake Superior or its St. Louis River Estuary. From 1992-2001, low-
intensity development increased 33% in the basin with an alarming transition from agriculture to
urban/suburban sprawl (Wolter et al. 2007) as indicated by Cook County’s 24% population
increase from 1990-96. Stream fish, amphibians, and the invertebrates that sustain them are
being adversely impacted by increased temperature, excessive peak flows, turbidity and
suspended solids, road salt, organic matter, and nutrients from increased development (MPCA
2003); 11 of the 27 major North Shore trout streams are now Listed as Impaired (303d-2008)
primarily for turbidity, temperature and fish-Hg (including Miller, Amity, Lester, Talmadge,
Knife, French, Poplar, and Brule). Implementing effective TMDL-based watershed
improvements and making informed, sustainable land use decisions to protect these high growth
watersheds requires in-depth knowledge of current status and trends in stream and watershed
condition, along with habitat and their biota to develop accurate predictive models for managing
them. This requires water quality data during base flow, storm and snowmelt runoff for use in
developing pollutant budgets, load estimates, and accurate predictive models to link to
assessments of habitat and biological communities over a wide range of conditions. To date, all
of these data have been relatively sparse, discontinuous, and/or inconsistent in regard to required
sampling and analytical methodologies and QA/QC.

DuluthStreams.org was created in 2002 by an EPA (Environmental Monitoring for Public

Access & Community Tracking) grant as a partnership among the City of Duluth, U. of MN
(NRRI & Sea Grant), WLSSD and MPCA, and re-christened LakeSuperiorStreams.org in 2005.
The project has a primary goal of enhancing public understanding of aquatic ecosystems and
their connections to watershed land use by illustrating the nature and consequences of degraded
stormwater and its real costs to society (Axler et al. 2006, 2003; Lonsdale et al. 2006).

Automated water quality monitoring data from five (5) Duluth-area St. Louis River Estuary and
Northshore tributary streams are fed into a website linking the data to GIS, land use, and current
and historical water quality and biological databases. Interactive data visualization tools and
interpretive text visually engage citizens and students and encourage the use of environmental
data in local decision-making. The Regional Stormwater Protection Team (RSPT) grew out of
the DuluthStreams partnership and is comprised of new MS4 stormwater permittees, agencies

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and organizations (now ~26) seeking to develop a unified watershed-level approach to educating
the public and businesses about their role in nonpoint source pollution, prevention, and cures
(Granley and Lonsdale 2005, 2007).

Minnesota streams draining into the Lake Superior coastal zone and St. Louis River Estuary are
typically sensitive, low productivity, high-quality trout streams. Some (Miller, Amity, Lester,
Talmadge, French, Poplar, Brule) are currently listed on the MN Clean Water Act (303d) List of
Impaired Waters - most commonly for turbidity and Fish-Hg (MPCA 2008). Steep topography
and thin, erodible soils make these streams particularly sensitive to development. Effective
management and remediation of these streams requires an understanding of their physical,
chemical, and biological characteristics, which can only be obtained by monitoring, particularly
during storm and snowmelt runoff events, when the most dramatic impacts occur. These data are
critical for developing and assessing BMPs, particularly in the face of increased development in
the high growth watersheds along the North Shore of Lake Superior (e.g. Anderson et al. 2003;
MPCA 2000; IJC 1999). MPCA initiated long-term monitoring of 6 critical streams along the
North Shore in 2002. However, MPCA has lacked the resources to install automated water
quality sensors, which are needed to capture critical pollutant loading events during high flows –
important for developing cost-effective remediation and mitigation strategies.

FY 04/05 funding from the MNLSCP, MPCA, Duluth, NRRI/Sea Grant and WLSSD allowed
the website to expand to include all RSPT communities, a site design toolkit, contractor training
materials, new educational sections, and a northshore section (leading to renaming the website
LakeSuperiorStreams.org; Axler et al. 2006).The Weber Stream Restoration Initiative funded
sensors for the Amity Creek station in 2005, and in 2006 additional MNLSCP funding allowed
us to install water quality sensors at the Poplar River long-term station. Preliminary analyses
(Sea Grant/WLSSD funding) by NRRI-UMD for three Duluth streams indicated that near-
continuous stream turbidity and conductivity data could be related to total suspended sediments
(TSS), phosphorus and salt during differing flow regimes using regression models. Further, a
relationship between TSS/turbidity and total mercury (THg) concentrations was found for Duluth
streams in summer storms as previously found for the Poplar River (Anderson et al. 2003).

The project has included issues associated with too much runoff such as flooding, with a key
issue in the region being sanitary sewer overflows from infiltration and inflow (I&I). These
events have imposed risks to public health and environmental risks to the coastal zone of Lake
Superior and the Duluth-Superior Harbor, and are requiring costly programs to reduce
stormwater flows from key neighborhoods and construction of large storage tanks for temporary
storage of stormwater enhanced sanitary sewer flows. The consequences of excess water and
peak flows have also included excess sediment and turbidity, and potentially excess nutrients,
pathogens, and contaminants. High salt concentrations for significant periods in late winter and
early spring runoff from winter road and parking lot de-icing can present additional stress to
trout and their prey. Increasing impervious surface and direct and indirect removal of riparian
vegetation increases peak temperatures, especially during base flow periods creating additional
periods of stress to cold water species with the additional potential stress of lowered dissolved
oxygen.

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The ultimate success of impairment assessments and mitigation and restoration strategies
depends on having accurate pollutant budgets that account for interannual variability and
establish background concentrations for specific sites as well as having an understanding of how
aquatic systems vary across ecoregions, climatic zones, and anthropogenic gradients (see Magner
and Brooks 2008). Success also requires informed citizens and decision makers who then set
appropriate management policies. Additional information is best found by examining
http://lakesuperiorstreams.org.

II. Objectives & Tasks

Major objectives for the project were to (1) Operate the LSS stream monitoring network for
2006-7 and add low level mercury sampling to develop accurate stream discharge/pollutant
budgets and models relating “surrogate” sensor values to pollutants of interest (especially Hg and
turbidity); and (2) provide an easy access web portal for citizens, businesses, and decision
makers to understand the environmental and public health issues and regulatory framework
associated with the actual pollutant monitoring data. The sensor data will be coupled with
manually collected TSS, nutrient, chloride and Hg data to estimate concentrations and
seasonal/annual loadings of these pollutants from the five monitored watersheds and to provide a
first assessment of event-based interannual variability (weather driven) in northshore streams.

The project comprised three specific tasks:

Task 1 -Stream data acquisition and posting - Operate and maintain continuous water quality sensors in
5 northshore streams; collect and analyze water samples for additional water quality parameters from
these same streams, in addition to the 5 long-term monitoring stations maintained and sampled by MPCA
(MPCA match effort).

Task 2. Data Analysis - Estimate total suspended sediment (TSS), nutrients, salt and mercury
loads from five Lake Superior tributaries using intensively collected data from in-stream sensors.
These "surrogate" values will then be "calibrated" using concentrations determined from
manually collected water samples during high and low flow events.Together with near-
continuous stage height/flow values, these data can be used to:

1) Develop multiple regression models relating TSS, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen
(TN), chloride (Cl), and low level mercury (Hg) to in-stream sensor measures of turbidity,
specific conductivity (EC@25oC), temperature and flow. This approach should yield intensive
and statistically sound estimates of the concentrations of these water quality variables
throughout the year including base flows, spring runoff, and during storm events. These
estimates will make it possible to use basic water quality sensor data as a cost-effective
surrogate for direct measurements of mercury (very expensive to measure directly) and other
pollutants.

2) Compute annual and seasonal loadings of TSS, TP, TN, Cl and Hg to Lake Superior.

3) Compare stream data sets with regard to: a) annual loadings; b) seasonal loadings; c)
storm event and spring runoff loadings; d) watershed characteristics; e) other years of data.

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Task 3. Website maintenance and new section development - Develop a new section in the
lakesuperiorstreams.org website providing background material about northshore stream
impairment issues. This section will be a portal for citizens, businesses, and decision-makers to
access relevant information about:1) Impaired water bodies in the Lake Superior region; 2) The
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) process (and current status) for addressing impairments in
these and other streams and/or lakes; 3) Mercury related public and environmental health issues
and local, regional, state and federal efforts to mitigate the problem; 4) Maintain Lake Superior
Streams website and continue to collaborate (and expand) with Regional Stormwater Protection
Team member agencies to disseminate relevant new information, market the website to
northshore communities, agencies, businesses and organizations, provide educational tools for
teaching watershed, water quality, and habitat protection, and seek stable funding for the
website and for the monitoring network.

III. Approach

The project has built on pre-existing partnerships – LakeSuperiorStreams and the Superior
Regional Stormwater Protection Team (www.duluthstreams.org/stormwater/rspt.html ).
Additional opportunities for continued relevant discussions and collaborations, as well as
additional expertise, resulted from the Weber Stream Restoration Initiative (WSRI;
www.duluthstreams.org/weber/index.html ) that began in 2005 with an endowment to restore and
protect degraded and threatened Lake Superior Basin trout streams. The project also benefited
from MPCA funding via the Lake Superior Beach Monitoring Program to maintain the
www.MinnesotaBeaches.org website and from Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program that
funded the continued expansion of the NRRI’s Lake Superior Coastal GIS website
(www.nrri.umn.edu/coastalgis ) in addition to the LSS project. It is also noteworthy that although
the monitoring network and website are operated and maintained at UMD-NRRI (directed by
R.Axler & G. Host), the LakeSuperiorStreams project continues to rely on MN Sea Grant's C.
Hagley and J. Schomberg (and more recently V. Brady) for outreach, education, and website
content and review. Current partners are listed at www.duluthstreams.org/general/aboutus.html
and www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/stormwater/rspt.html .

Field & Lab Methods (unchanged from 2006; see www.duluthstreams.org/streams/QA_QC.html )

o Sample collection - Automated sensors, measuring temperature, EC25, turbidity, depth (for
flow estimation) on the stream monitoring units (SMUs), are checked ~weekly for cleaning
and/or re-calibration by comparison to a YSI 85, YSI 556, or Hydrolab Minisonde MS5
multi-probe water quality analyzer and as per manufacturer’s recommendations. Manual
measurements include daily calibrations. The SMU control modules (CR10X and sensors)
are programmed to collect temperature, EC25, turbidity, and stream elevation data at 30
minute intervals, which is relevant to the time-scale of storms. The sensor sonde used at
Amity is a Hydrolab MS5 sonde with selfcleaning turbidity sensor. Stage height is
measured by the MPCA via an ultrasonic distance sensor and flow calculated from USGS
derived rating curve. Maual sample collections were performed largely by MPCA-Duluth
staff (see below) but on occasion by NRRI-UMD or Cook County SWCD staff.
o QA/QC - The primary QA/QC objective for all of these studies is to assure accurate and
representative measurements of the biological, physical and chemical parameters that are
monitored. The historical and current manual monitoring data, plus the intensive data

4
 collected by the stream monitoring units (SMUs) are intended for both public education
and for inclusion in the City of Duluth (City), Western Lake Superior Sanitary District
(WLSSD), Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA/STORET), and Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) databases. Measurements comply with EPA
QA guidelines (EPA 1998) and follow previously established and documented QA/QC
plans developed by NRRI, certified by the MN Dept of Health and the MPCA (Ameel et al.
1998; APHA 2003), and used for previous EMPACT projects performed by our group.
EPA used our Lake Access EMPACT project as the national model for technology transfer
to other aquatic EMPACT projects (Peterson et al. 2000). Details are at
www.duluthstreams.org/streams/aboutdata.html . Stage height monitoring, maintenance
and calibration are performed by staff at the MPCA-Duluth in cooperation with USGS (see
Anderson et al. 2003 for details)

IV. Task Results

This section summarizes the major elements of the three work tasks that were completed over the
period of the grant. Supporting screen captures from the LakeSuperiorStreams.org website are
included in the Appendices.

• Task 1. Real Time Stream Monitoring:

1-1. Continuous data acquisition for flow and water quality continued throughout Fall 2007. The
City of Duluth was rebuilding the “lowest” bridge over the Amity Creek on Seven Bridges Rd in
summer 2007 and so the MPCA stage height sensor and NRRI-UMD water quality sensor sonde
were removed on June 25, 2007. There was no satisfactory place to reinstall the stage height
sensor just upstream and the next most upstream bridge was too high. Therefore, we decided an
in situ flow sensor was necessary. Most of the cost of this was covered by the Large Lakes
Observatory at UMD because 2 researchers at LLO are initiating a dissolved organic carbon
study of North Shore streams beginning with a pilot in Amity Creek (E.Minor and J.Austin). The
sensor system went back on line for all parameters on July 19, 2007. During the bridge
reconstruction we manually sampled the original site and the new upstream site for turbidity on
an approximately weekly basis with extra samples collected during high flow storm events in
order to develop a quantitative loading relationship between the two sites. The bridge was largely
completed by November 2007 but delays from heavy fall rainstorms precluded re-mounting the
original stage height sensor at the original long-term MPCA monitoring site until March 2008.

1-2. Winter- All stream data, except for the Poplar River station that was removed in November
for the winter continued to be delivered automatically to the www.lakesuperiorstreams.org
website for display via the interactive data animation and visualization tools through January
2008 when a cold spell and the buildup of anchor ice “threatened” the data sondes. Very little
continuous winter data is available, if any, prior to the DS/LSS.org project. Sondes will be re-
installed when ice (and flow) conditions permit in Spring 2008. Manual measurements of
temperature and EC25 (using a field meter) and turbidity (via grab sampling and lab
turbidimeter) are performed as warranted by field conditions (i.e. thaws).

5
1-3. Water sample collection and analyses for total suspended sediment (TSS), turbidity,
nutrients, and chloride were performed for all of the streams by both NRRI and MPCA personnel
following MPCA’s Guidance Manual for Assessing the Quality of Minnesota Surface Waters
(www.pca.state.mn.us/water/tmdl/index.html ).
Similar parameters were collected at the
remaining long-term MPCA monitoring stations
(Talmadge, French, Brule and Brule Rivers) by
MPCA-Duluth staff. Water quality data were
added to the website via updated Excel
spreadsheets that can be viewed via Internet
Browser or downloaded.

6
Task 2. Data analysis

2-1. Poplar River. NRRI continued to actively participate, on an as-needed basis, in various
discussions with the Poplar River Management Board, Lutsen Ski Mountain Resort, Cook
County SWCD, and the MPCA regarding the design and implementation of the TMDL for the
Poplar River and potential monitoring strategies and collaborations. A summary with preliminary
analyses of the 2006 in-stream turbidity sensor data and recommendations for the 2007 field
season was previously developed and sent to all interested parties in February 2007 (Axler et al.
2007). It was prepared to assist the MPCA, Cook County SWCD, EPA Region V, and their
subcontracted consultants in the TMDL study and is available in the Poplar River section at
www.duluthstreams.org/northshore/poplar/TMDL/index.html and also via the Stream Reports
section at www.duluthstreams.org/general/reports_NShore.html .

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2-2. Sediment, nutrient and mercury in Western Lake Superior Streams: In-stream turbidity
sensors versus grab sampling and modeling.

Results of analyses were presented at two conferences in October 2007 associated with an M.S
thesis funded largely through MN Sea Grant that complements the data collection funded by this
Coastal program grant. It is expected that at least two manuscripts will be subnitted to refereed
journals from this M.S. thesis during the latter half of 2008. Copies will be submitted to Coastal
program staff and funding from this project will be acknowledged.

The use of in situ continuous (15-30

minute interval sampling) turbidity values
as a surrogate for total suspended solids
(TSS), total phosphorus, total nitrogen,
and Hg was assessed for each stream.
Currently, sediment and nutrient loading
estimates are developed for North Shore
streams based on an analysis that
combines continuous, stage-height
hydrographs (estimating discharge) with
15-30 grab sample measurements of TSS,
TP and TN. Grab sampling is biased
towards higher flows during snow melt
runoff and rainstorm events and the
modeling software FLUX is used to
generate annual loading estimates
(Anderson et al. 2003; Walker 1999).

Regression models relating continuous

turbidity data to “spot” (i.e. discrete
interrval manual grab sampling) values of
TSS, TP, TN and THg during differing
flow regimes were developed. Strong
statistical relationships between in situ
turbidity and TSS were found for all four
streams (Figure 1) and these regression
equations were used to compute estimates
of daily and annual suspended sediment
loads. Similarly, daily and annual loads for
nutrients and mercury were computed
using additional regression analyses of
total-P, total-N, and total-Hg versus TSS
(Figures 2 and 3).

Table 1 summarizes provisional

comparisons of the two independent
loading analyses (Ruzycki et al. 2007). It

8
appears that the FLUX modeling approach yields consistently higher estimates for annual and
snowmelt suspended sediment loading in these urban streams. Additional ana;lyses of nutrients
are in progress (Ruzycki, M.S. Thesis, In prep. March 2008).

Total mercury values ranged from 1 to 28 ng/L throughout the 2004-2006 open water season and
show a close relationship with TSS (r2 = 0.82, n = 23) for all four streams. Figure 4 summarizes
these data in relation to the MPCA criterion of 1.3 ng/L for North Shore streams. Table 2 shows
a comparison of the differeing mercury species measured in the 5 streams. These results
combine both runoff event and base flow data.

Linear regression models have been developed relating turbidity to TSS, total phosphorus, and
mercury (Table 3). Similar models are being developed for EC25 and chloride. These results
indicate that the models must be stream specific. Multiple regression has also been performed for
a variety of parameters but so far have not resulted in better model fit (Ruzycki, in prep M.S.
theisis). We will do the same for the Poplar River after more data is collected.

9
 Table 3. Regression model fit for each stream. Both models are based on
log transformed data. Na = not available yet, there is not enough data
from Amity Creek.
In-stream Turbidity vs TSS TSS vs Total Hg
Stream 2
(r ) (r2)
Amity 0.98 0.93
n = 33 n=9
Chester 0.61 0.87
n = 85 n=9
Kingsbury 0.72 0.91
n = 85 n = 10
Tischer 0.55 0.84
n = 85 n = 10
All Streams
0.71 0.85

Annual loads of sediments and mercury were estimated using turbidity as a surrogate .
Preliminary results are shown in Table 3. These preliminary estimates, will be further refined
once we gain a better understanding of the errors associated with using continuous, instream
turbidity as a surrogate for suspended sediments. We recently purchased a second sonde for a
Sea Grant funded study of the Lester-Amity watershed in 2008 that will enable us to determine
how variable instream turbidity is along each stream cross section. We have also developed
annual and seasonal discharge for all of the watersheds which will allow for future analyses of
how the watersheds differ seasonally and by watershed characteristics.

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Task 3. Website maintenance and new features
3-1. Website maintenance is on-going, many additions to existing sections have been created
and installed, and several new sections have been created and installed in 2007. Of particular
note:

o The northshore streams section now

has pages for 14 of the streams
(including Amity) including interactive
maps for each watershed. Each stream
section now has additional general
information, and images and text on
their home pages with links to DNR
for fish and invertebrate data. Other
sources of data, as they are discovered
or contributed by agency staff, are
listed in the reference reports section
that links back to each stream and a
hyperlink is made if the report or
datafile is available on-line. In some
cases, if not too large in size, the
information is actually made available directly off of the LSS website . The main map with
hyperlinks to the stream sections has also been redesigned for increased clarity and ease of
use. Most recently, we reviewed the Flute Reed Watershed Plan and installed it on the
website (Dec 2007) and added photographs of the river during spectacular Fall 2007 floods
and from other times of year and years (see Flute Reed section description below).

o Creek News Press Releases developed by several RSPT members in 2005 and 2006 were
edited and posted in the Reports section and linked to stream sections (see
www.duluthstreams.org/streams/creekNotes.html )

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o A new publication called the Stream-Line Newsletter was created in 2007 by J. Kallestad at
NRRI-UMD with help from several Superior RSPT members and funding from the Weber
Stream Restoration Initiative. Editions from Spring and Fall 2007 and recently Spring 2008
have now been created, mailed to >1500 residences in the Lester-Amity watershed, and
posted on the LSS website at www.duluthstreams.org/weber/StreamLine.htm . Stories are
not linited to the Lester-Amity watersheds and are solicited from WSRI and RSPT partners.
Considerable guidance and review has been contributed by Mindy Granley, the NPS
Program Coordinator for Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program.

3-2. TMDLs. An Understanding page was created previously with internal and external links to
impaired waters information in the region. There are now three TMDL studies underway in the
region (Poplar, Knife, Miller) and all now have websections on LSS. The Cook County SWCD
is the lead local agency for the Lower Poplar River study and Minnesota Sea Grant at the U. of
Minnesota-Duluth is conducting the outreach and education effort using the
LakeSuperiorStreams website as a bulletin board for posting TMDL information and notices
(www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/northshore/poplar/TMDL/
index.html). Additional links to state and federal
websites were added to help educate the public about the
technical details as well as the process. The Miller Creek
and Knife River TMDL studies are hyperlinked from the
South St. Louis County SWCD website which is the lead
agency for these stream restorations. Additional
biological information from NRRI surveys in the Knife
River have been added.

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3-3. The Major Section on LAKEAKE SUPERIOR COMMUNITIES continues to be improved
http://www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/communities/regional/regional.html with new links to north
shore and south shore counties and townships for information on contacting decision makers,
stormwater expertise, wastewater and solid waste information, planning and zoning information
and many other useful sources of information for citizens and businesses. Additional website
modifications since 2007 include:

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{ A Duluth Stormwater Infrastructure tour slide presentation was added with links from the
COMMUNITIES section (Duluth Stormwater Information) and the UNDERSTANDING
section (Urban Hydrology); see caption in Chester Creek image at
http://duluthstreams.org/stormwater/duluth/stormwater_plan.

{ The 2007 Duluth MS4 Annual Public Meeting Presentation slideshow is now downloadable
at http://duluthstreams.org/stormwater/duluth/stormwater_plan.html

o A Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG) section based on a slideshow developed by Duluth
Stormwater was created (http://duluthstreams.org/citizen/fatsOilGrease.html in the
CITIZENS & SCHOOLS / Home & Garden / Waste disposal section)

o The south shore section was greatly expanded during the previous three quarters and now
includes extensive information regarding the Nemadji River, the City of Superior stream
monitoring efforts, a Lake Superior Clay brochure, trout streams of WI links, and
incorportation of WI DNR information on stormwater and the Lake Superior Basin
throughout. We are awaiting additional information from RSPT Wisconsin Partners and are
seeking collaborative grant opportunties to further develop the South Shore section.

o We have begun to develop a subsection for information from Fortin Consulting Company’s
Parking Lot Maintenance training workshops (MPCA 319 funded with NRRI and RSPT
agreeing to collaborate) this past winter and will be incorporating them into the
STORMWATER and CITIZEN sections of the website over the next 2 months. This effort
has been delayed by lack of funding for the overall LakeSuperiorStreams.org project.

3-4. Water Quality Impacts of Mercury

A new websection within the

UNDERSTANDING/WaterQualityImpacts section
was created to provide information on mercury
pollution sources and effects
(www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/understanding/impa
ct_mercury.html ). The section includes general
information on the nature of the issue, on mercury
cycling in the environment, and in particular – on
things individuals and businesses can do to reduce
the discharge of Hg into the environment. A
subsection entitled Mercury in North Shore Streams
provides summary data from the 2005-2007 Hg
surveys of North Shore streams by NRRI, and links
to other studies of mercury in the Superior Basin. It
is intended that this section be dynamic since this
continues to be a “hot” research topic throughout
the world, and particularly in the Upper Midwest.
Since, it is unclear if funding will exist in the future for comprehensive LSS website

14
maintenance, we have linked to a number of agency websites that are likely to continue to be
current (although sudden external website changes in navigation (i.e. URLs) remains a
frustrating challenge. The new Hg website sections are inserted below.

15
16
3-5. The Flute Reed River Watershed Partnership

The Flute Reed River has an active citizen watershed partnership and volunteer monitoring
program and the Cook County Water Plan Coordinator requested that we develop a websection
for this stream. Over the past six months we have expanded this section to include a weblog for
Partnership meeting minutes , photographs and reports. We are currently in the process of adding
photographs of the stream taken during different times of year.

3-6. A SPOT A PROBLEM option (HOME PAGE Spot a problem? ;

www.duluthstreams.org/citizen/involvement.html ) was created earlier in the grant period to refer
citizens to a section to help them to know who to contact if they see or suspect a pollution
problem. We are continuing to seek additional help regarding who to contact if inappropriate
OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) use is seen. Considerable discussion about this topic was heard at a
MN DNR Trails Division public meeting during summer 2007 concerning OHV rules for the
Cloquet Valley State Forest and the issue clearly remains confusing to the general public.

3-7. GIS and Other Information

GIS data and maps created by this project, the MN LSCP funded CoastalGIS project and state
and federal agencies are made available in the GIS/Maps section of the individual stream
sections including the ability to query across data layers (e.g., calculate the area of forested

17
wetlands within a 100 m riparian buffer of 2nd and
higher order streams) and to create tabular and
mapped summaries of the results. Spatial data
analyses performed for this project in cooperation
with other projects in the region included
hydrography, transportation, landuse/landcover,
geology and soils, ownership and administrative
boundaries (see www.nrri.umn.edu/coastalgis ). The
DATA INDEX link opens a main index for water
quality and other information about all of the
streams covered by the LakeSuperiorStreams
project. It provides a map divided in Duluth, North
Shore and South Shore subregions that allows the
user to link to a particular stream section via
mouse-rollover and or via a comprehensive table
that summarizes all information available for each
stream, with appropriate links
(www.duluthstreams.org/streams/stream_selector.html).

3-8. Website navigation & structure improvements:

The LakeSuperiorStreams website has also continued to be revised and upgraded for technical
improvements in user navigation as well as internal navigation and data processing during the
past six months. An organizational redesign provides greater ease in managing individual
webpages, and each stream now has its own page with common links on each page. An example
can viewed at www.duluthstreams.org/northshore/maps/poplarMaps.html .

There are now more than 2000 HTML files in the website, of which more than 75% have been
modified since September 2006 (this is somewhat misleading since a large number of these file
changes are simply updates to the navigational structure on the borders of the web pages). As
web browsers and computer hardware evolve, these sorts of upgrades are an essential, but
significant hidden cost, to the LakeSuperiorStreams project that contributes to website
maintenance costs.

3-9. Summary of additional “new” informational and educational materials:

(among the new or heavily edited pages or sections since January 2007):

o LAKE SUPERIOR COMMUNITIES

- Greatly improved and expanded information for citizens from Twin Ports area, north and
south shore communities (www.duluthstreams.org/communities/index.html )
- Lake Superior information – from MPCA and WDNR. Future plans include creating a
comprehensive new section on the Lake itself with links to appropriate research and
management agencies and initiatives.
- Climate – We have collected information for a regional climate section with extensive
discussion of climate change issues pertinent to the region should future funding be acquired.

18
o UNDERSTANDING
- Bacteria – new information via USGS research and demonstration projects in Ohio
- Watersheds- section revised to include Wisconsin DNR information as well as new MPCA
materials
- Impairments & TMDLs (see above discussions and descriptions of TMDL and Mercury
websections)
- Fish section - more fishing organization material; articles posted about Weber Initiative
and NRRI Great Lakes Environmental Indicators Project (GLEI) from Angler magazine.
- UM volunteer oriented aquatic bug ID website - link added plus a link to an on-line
interactive taxonomic key for Minnesota aquatic invertebrates.
- Data Vignettes- A variety of data sequences (vignettes) using real-time data collected from
Tischer, Chester, Kingsbury, Amity and Poplar Creeks from 2002 - 2007 have formed a
unique part of the LSS project to illustrate how regional streams “behave” and in
particular, how watershed activities and land uses can affect the transport of dissolved
and particulate pollutants into these streams. These vignettes have been developed and
formatted similarly to those developed as part of the Water on the Web (WOW) water
science curriculum (www.waterontheweb.org ) and will be available for viewing on the
website or as downloadable slide shows for teachers or agency staff to use or modify as
needed. Modules or website sections of this kind have been developed for: flow,
temperature, suspended solids/turbidity and conductivity (salt). Not all have yet been
installed in a website library but we hope to have this completed by September 30, 2008
if funding permits. This is an ongoing process dependent upon staff funding as we
develop materials for presentations at conferences and workshops

o CITIZENS & SCHOOLS

- Wisconsin citizen scientist information – this includes a continuing effort to help develop a
“unified” citizen volunteer stream monitoring program for the western Lake Superior basin
(both MN and WI)
- Home and Garden – this section has been greatly expanded to include information about
pharmaceutical, waste fertilizer, waste electronics disposal/recycling, and fats-oils-greases
(FOG) information.

o STORMWATER
- Urban Hydrology section -
www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/understanding/stormwater_hydrology.html
- Stream-deicing Creek Note added to Housekeeping subsection
- Site Design Toolkit - www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/stormwater/toolkit/index.html;
Assessment of Stormwater Best Management Practices link added to inform users of
progress made by the U. of Minnesota campus study (2005-2007).
- Winter snow removal contractor training information from Fortin Consulting Co.
workshops from 2006-2008 are linked from the MPCA stormwater website. We have plans
to install some of these educational materials and a certification test on LSS (contingent upon
funding).

19
 - WHAT’S NEW section that is linked at the bottom of every page in the website provides a
steady stream of new information gleaned from various state and federal agencies. The most
relevant are added to appropriate major sections of the website.

o STREAMS
- The most notable additions involve TMDL materials for the Poplar R., Knife R. and
Miller Creek TMDL studies and the expansion of the Flute Reed River websection. In
addition:
- Work has continued on an updated version of the Data-Visualization Tools, with new
features that will ultimately include:

° Data-smoothing (3-point moving average);

° More time-scale options – the current version was expanded to cover a full year.
° More startup parameters – allowing complete control over the original plot when the
applets are launched – making it easier to use the DVTs to illustrate specific events. This
will facilitate developing data vignettes to easily make use of the most recent data as well
as having the potential to instruct outreach and education professionals and agency to
develop their own materials that are best suited to their specific needs.

- The “left-side” navigational links on the web pages for each stream were standardized in
2007 and now we need information to “flesh out” the Photographs, Issues, and History
sections. This will apparently take longer than anticipated and will require a commitment
by the County Water Plan Coordinators and other local or state agencies.
- A new Internet Map Server (IMS) was also created for the Weber Stream Restoration
Initiative (WSRI: www.duluthstreams.org/streams/maps/weberMaps.html ) along with a
number of other static maps of the area.
- Additional project detail for the Amity stream bank and channel erosion survey and road
crossing surveys were finalized in 2007 for inclusion in the WSRI section that lists more
than a dozen projects (www.duluthstreams.org/weber/projects.html ). In particular, we
revised and updated:
- WSRI Project #4 Photo walk of Amity Creek (2005 and 2006) which describes the
results of several dates when NRRI, Sea Grant and City Staff walked large sections of
Amity Creek and photographed potential problem areas that appeared likely to generate
excessive suspended sediments and turbidity.
- WSRI Project #5 Survey of road crossings for Amity Creek (2005): Maps have been
generated showing all the road-stream intersections in the watershed. These are sites where
roadway water carrying sediment and other pollutants is often dumped directly into
streams. There are enough of these that non-conventional techniques to disperse the runoff
might yield significant improvement. Since it is recognized that forest roads stream
crossing are potentially major sources of sediment, turbidity and nutrients, it is important to
generate similar maps for all impaired or threatened North Shore trout streams.
- Data index tables for North and South Shore streams continue to be updated with data
reports and links as they are discovered. MPCA water chemistry spreadsheets since 2002
now installed for all MPCA long-term monitored northshore streams except the Brule
River (data from MPCA is currently being reformatted- Mar 2008).

20
Monitoring “impacts” (in terms of drainage area and stream miles):

Summary of total watershed areas and associated total stream lengths per watershed for sites
with automated water quality monitoring stations. Data from Fitzpatrick et al. 2006,
Anderson et al. 2003) and www.LakeSuperiorStreams.org. Note that the watershed areas
upstream of the in stream sensors represented 97-99% of total area for each monitored
watershed.
Kingsbury Chester Tischer Amity Poplar Total
Area
23.3 17.4 18.9 43.3 83.1 186.0 km2
(km2)
Area
5755 4298 4668 10,695 20,545 45,961 acres
(acres)
Stream
Length 18.8 18.4 18.1 53.1 40.6 149.0 km
(km)
Stream
Length 11.7 11.4 11.3 33.0 25.2 92.6 miles
(mi)

Awards:

The project won a number of awards in the past three years that it has received funding from
Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal program including:

o 2004 APEX Award of Excellence - Communications Concepts, Inc - award to the related
DuluthStreams website - special purpose video and electronic publications category
o 2005 Environmental Leadership Award at the 4th Annual Road Salt Symposium in St. Cloud
Minnesota for the feature “How much salt is a problem”.
o 2005 Technical Excellence Award in recognition of "Outstanding Research in Stream and
Lake Restoration, Protection and Management" from the North American Lake Management
Society (NALMS)
o Website of the month in December 2005 by the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN)
o 2005 Media award from the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee
o Nominated: 2006 Great Lakes State of the Lakes (SOLEC) Success Story Award
o Nominated: 2006 National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies
(NAFSMA) “Excellence in Communication” Award
o 2007 Environmental Stewardship Award to LakeSuperiorStreams.org in the
Community/Organization category for the United States from the Lake Superior Binational
Forum. (award was presented on July 15, 2007 — Lake Superior Day and then more formally
at the Making a Great Lake Superior Conference in Duluth, MN on October 29, 2007.
o LakeSuperiorStreams.org and the RSPT were jointly a Finalist for the Minnesota
Environmental Initiative 2007 Education Award awarded May 17, 2007.

21
 V. Evaluation
Website usage:

Web activity is tracked automatically and

summarized at ~6 month intervals. As of
December 31, 2007 the site had achieved more
than 458,000 “hits”/month as a monthly high in
May 2007(~247,000 when the current MN LSCP
grant proposal was written) and >85,000 “page
requests”/mo (May/June 2007; ~ 57,000 when the
current proposal was written) with a regional and
national target audience that includes: the general
public; students and teachers; contractors,
consultants and developers; decision makers; and
agencies (local, state, and federal). There are
some additional useful measures from new
website tracking software that we acquired in
2007 that suggest that ~40% of the requests are
from computers or Internet Service Providers in
MN with perhaps another 5% in WI- but these
estimates are preliminary. Website requests
have come from more than 120 countries to
date; it is likely that this wide range is due in
part to the wide poularity of our parent project
WaterontheWeb.org which continues to
receive more than 4 times the activity of
LakeSuperiorStreams.org despite minimal
changes in the WOW website over the past
three years (except for the data feed and links
from LSS).

It is also of interest that although website usage continues to grow steadily from year to year,
there is a pronounce increase in Spring and Fall and a large decrease every summer. This
strongly suggests use by students and teachers.

Surveys- Our effort to obtain direct survey evaluation by an on-line survey

and by interviewing targeted user groups has languished for lack of
funding to pursue the data more fervently. We have also worked closely
with the Regional Social Indicators Initiative (SI) funded by the USEPA
and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) over the past year
(see www.uwex.edu/ces/regionalwaterquality/Flagships/Indicators.htm ).
The social indicators project is intended to improve and protect water
quality through the design and implementation a system for integrating
social indicators into nonpoint source (NPS) planning, implementation, and evaluation. Social
indicators for NPS management will provide information about awareness, attitudes, constraints,
capacity, and behaviors that are expected to lead to water quality improvement and protection.

22
By measuring these indicators over time, water quality managers can target their project
activities and assess whether their projects are accomplishing changes expected to improve and
protect water quality. Monitoring social indicators, like monitoring environmental indicators,
will provide valuable information about how well management strategies are working. As part of
a collaboration with a City of Duluth/NRRI/MN Sea Grant EPA 319 NPS project involving
retrofits of a residential neighborhood to reduce runoff that has just begun (March 2008), the
Minnesota SI team is also
developing practical, informal
evaluation tools that will applied in
the proposed project and will make
use of the LSS website in addition to
providing valuable evaluation of it.

Presentations
A running list of presentations, reports, journal manuscripts, articles, and awards is maintained
on the LakeSuperiorStreams.org website in the ABOUT US section linked from the bottom of
every page.

VI. Conclusions and Summary Evaluation

LSS relies heavily on information provided by members of the Superior Regional Stormwater
Protection Team (RSPT) which evolved from the original DuluthStreams.org project, with a
mission of developing a common set of educational materials for the region and promoting joint
activities to achieve its goals. This group now includes 26 member organizations including
Minnesota and Wisconsin agencies,
local governments, and organizations
(including NEMO, Sea Grant-UMD,
NRRI-UMD, UW-Superior Extension,
townships, cities, transportation,
nonprofits, Soil and Water
Conservation Districts, and others)
which serve a continued role in the
evolution of the website and its
materials. The RSPT uses the website
as a vehicle for disseminating
information to its wide audience, makes
use of presentation materials using real-
time water quality and GIS data
developed by the academic team, and in turn provides technical expertise on stormwater
engineering and construction, regulatory, and planning issues. RSPT partners in turn provide
information for i) developing local case studies, ii) estimating realistic costs for BMPs, and
restoration projects, iii) collaborating to offer training workshops for contractors, consultants,

23
and agency staff and iv) providing a critical link between academic scientists and educators and
decision makers. Enhancing this synergy was a continuing goal of this proposal.

The project has generated water quality data needed to assess, model and manage threatened
trout streams as well as the coastal zone of Lake Superior. It provides the data needed to allow
resource agencies to better estimate seasonal, year-to-year and stream-to-stream variability in
water quality and contribute to regulatory work plans for addressing impairments. The project
built on pre-existing partnerships - LakeSuperiorStreams, the RSPT, and the Weber Stream
Restoration Initiative with significant in-kind effort and funding from MPCA, WLSSD, City of
Duluth Stormwater Utility, and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Additional collaborators
included Lutsen Mountain Ski Area, South St Louis/Cook/Lake County SWCDs, and the Poplar
River Management Board. Objectives evolved from discussions between LSS, RSPT and WSRI
partners, and between NRRI, Sea Grant, MPCA, MDNR and EPA-MED (Duluth) aquatic
scientists studying Superior Basin watersheds, surface waters, and biological communities and
collaborating on numerous applied research and water science education projects for >15 yrs.
Effective monitoring of seasonal pollutant levels and loading rates are also important elements of
the Superior Basin Plan and are essential to track trends, estimate background, and evaluate the
efficacy of BMPs for mitigation and restoration projects (Magner and Brooks 2008).
LakeSuperiorStreams staff also created MPCA’s MNBeaches.org website and interactive data
visualization tools, a websection for St. Louis River Watch, and have discussed with various
agencies how to make complex data sets interesting and interpretable to the public.

The use of real-time, intensive stream data allows for more accurate measurements of water
quality changes across entire annual and event stream hydrographs- prohibitively expensive
using manually collected data. This real-time monitoring will provide a better understanding of
how landuse changes and potentially, restoration efforts, affect stream water quality and habitat.
The LakeSuperiorStreams website has received regional, state and national awards for its
science-based, creative linking of environmental education to real-time data to inform citizens,
teachers, students, contractors, development interests, agencies and scientists about the
connections between land activities and the condition of surface waters. It has strived to provide
positive messages about personal actions to mitigate nonpoint source pollution. Future
innovative elements will involve applying our data visualization utilities to additional agency
bacteria, water quality, thermal, and climate data and piloting QA’ed citizen monitoring data for
assessment and trend evaluation.

VI. Acknowledgements

This project was funded under the Coastal Zone Management Act, by NOAA’s Office of Ocean
and Coastal Resource Management, in cooperation with Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal
Program (MLSCP Project No. 306-08-08 and Contract Number: A92533 to RPA). Development
of the project was conducted by the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of
Minnesota-Duluth (NRRI-UMD and Sea Grant–UMD) in close collaboration with City of
Duluth Stormwater Utility staff. More than 50% of the total cost of the project was provided in
the form of: (1) in-kind salary match by NRRI-UMD’s Center for Water & the Environment
and Sea Grant – UMD salary match (43%); MPCA-Duluth salary match (J. Anderson) for field
sampling and data analysis, and water quality analyses (24%); (3) water quality analyses by the

24
Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (10%); (4) field sampling, sensor maintenance, web
materials development, RSPT coordination and website operation funding by City of Duluth
stormwater staff (~23%). Dave Stark of the Cook County SWCD helped with field work and
sensor maintenance and calibration at the Poplar River site and by providing Poplar River TMDL
materials and relevant reports. Jerry Walker of the Duluth Stormwater Utility helped with field
maintenance of water quality sensors. Mindy Granley, now with the MN Lake Superior Coastal
Program, provided review and materials from workshops and also continued to help with the site
design toolkit section and with web section review. We also thank the entire Superior Regional
Stormwater Protection Team (RSPT) for its ideas and dedication to minimizing the impacts of
stormwater on regional water resources.

25
VII. References

Ameel, J., E. Ruzycki and R.P. Axler. 1998. Analytical chemistry and quality assurance
procedures for natural water samples. 6th edition. NRRI Tech. Rep. NRRI/TR98/03.
Anderson, J., M. Evenson, T. Estabrooks, and B. Wilson. 2003. An assessment of representative
L. Superior Basin tributaries. MN Pollution Control Agency, St. Paul 55155.
APHA. 2003. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. Amer. Publ.
Health Assoc. Washington, D.C.
Axler, R., J.Henneck, E.Ruzycki and N.Will. 2007. Poplar River, MN (Cook County), 2006
Automated, in situ, Water Quality Data: Preliminary Analysis. January 31, 2007. Unpubl.
Report submitted to MPCA’s Poplar River TMDL Study.
Axler, R., C.Hagley, G.Host and J.Schomberg. 2006. LakeSuperiorStreams.org: Making
stormwater and stream data come alive for citizens, students, teachers, contractors, resource
agencies, decision-makers and scientists. Proceedings U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S.
Geological Survey 5th National Water Quality Monitoring Conference, San Jose, CA May
7-11, 2006.
Axler, R. and M. Lonsdale. 2003. Duluth Streams: Community Partnerships For Understanding
Water Quality and Stormwater Impacts at the Head of the Great Lakes
(www.duluthstreams.org) . Coastline Issue 13.1: 10-15.
www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/coastlines), February 2003.
Duluth. 2000. Duluth Vision 2000 – Duluth in the 21st Century. City of Duluth Planning
Department, December 2000.
EPA. 1999a. National pollution discharge elimination system – regulations for revision of the
water pollution control program addressing storm water discharges. Federal Register
64(235): 68722-68735.
EPA. 1999b. Report to Congress on the phase II storm water regulations. EPA 833-R-99-001.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
EPA. 1998. EPA Guidance for Quality Assurance Project Plans EPA QA/G-5. EPA/600/R-
98/018, February 1998. (http://www.epa.gov/quality1/qs-docs/g5-final.pdf) /600/9-89/087.
Fitzpatrick, F.A., Peppler,M.C., DePhilip, M.M. and Lee, K.E. 2006. Geomorphic characteristics
and classification of Duluth-Area streams, Minnesota. USGS Scientific Investigations
Report 2006-5029.
Granley, M. and M.Lonnsdale. 2007. Innovative water quality protection strategies in the Lake
Superior watershed. Proceedings of Coastal Zone 2007 Conference, Portland, Oregon, July
22 to 26, 2007
Granley, M. and M.Lonsdale. 2005. Meeting the Challenge: A Protection Message in a
Restoration World. Regional Stormwater Protection Team Presentation, 4th National
Conference, Nonpoint Sources and Stormwater Pollution Education Programs, October 17-
20, 2005.
Host, G. E., N. R. Will, R. P. Axler, C.J. Owen, and B. H. Munson. 2000. Interactive
technologies for collecting and visualizing water quality data. Journal of the Urban and
Regional Information Systems Association 12:39-45.
Host, G.E. , B. H. Munson, R. P. Axler, C. A. Hagley, G. Merrick and C. J. Owen. 1999. Water
on the Web: Students monitoring Minnesota rivers and lakes over the Internet. AWRA
Spec. Symp. Water Resources and World Wide Web. Seattle, WA, Dec. 1999.

26
IJC. 1999. Lake Superior Binational Program. Final. 1999. Protecting Lake Superior–Lakewide
Management Plan, Stage 2. Load Reduction Targets for Critical Pollutants. Prepared by the
Superior Work Group: Chemical Committee. 162 pages. Thunder Bay and Chicago.
Lonsdale, M., T.Carlson, R.Axler, J.Walker, C.Hagley, J.Schomberg, M.Granley and G.Host,
Linking data, public outreach and education: The City of Duluth Stream Outreach Program
- www.lakesuperiorstreams.org. Water Environment Federation Proceedings of Annual
Meeting: WEFTEC.06 - The Water Quality Event, 79th Annual Conference and
Exhibition, Oct 21-25, 2006, Dallas, Texas USA. INVITED.
Magner, J. A. and K. N. Brooks. 2008. Integrating sentinel watershed-systems into the
monitoring and assessment of Minnesota’s (USA) waters quality. Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment 138: 149-158.
MPCA.2006. Minnesota's Impaired Waters and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL):2006
Final List of Impaired Waters (approved by the U.S. EPA on May 13, 2006).
www.pca.state.mn.us/water/tmdl/index.html#tmdl
MPCA. 2000. North Shore land use issues: The real costs of growth. Publication WQ/Lake
Superior Basin #2.03.
Munson, B., R. Huber, R. Axler, G. Host, C. Hagley, C. Moore and G. Merrick. 2003.
Investigating water quality through the Internet. The Science Teacher 70(1): 44-49.
Peterson, D. (EPA ed). 2000. Delivering timely water quality information to your community:
The Lake Access-Minneapolis project. EPA/625/R-00/012, September 2000, U. S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH,
45268, USA (contributing authors: R. Axler, J. Barten, J. Goin, C.Hagley, G.Host, B.
Liukkonen, B.Munson, B.Peichel, C.Owen, B.Vlach, N.Will). EPA-625/R-00/012, 104 p.
Richardson, D.C. 2007. Preserving the legacy of glaciers: Six minimum measures in the Great
Lakes region [Centerpiece of the Region is an interview with Marnie Lonsdale, City of
Duluth Stormwater Utility Education Coordinator]. Stormwater 8(2), Mar/Apr. 2007 or via
http://distributedenergy.com/sw_0703_preserving.html
Ruzycki, E., R. Axler, J.Henneck, N.Will, and G.Host. 2007. Sediment and nutrient load
measurements in western Lake Superior streams: In-stream turbidity sensors versus grab
sampling and modeling. MN water Resources Conference, Minneapolis, MN, October
24, 2007.
Will, N., R.Axler, G.Host and H.Bauman. 2006. Interactive Animation and Visualization Tool
for Exploring Lake Superior Beach Monitoring Program Bacteria Data. Final Report to
Minnesota's Lake Superior Coastal Program, Project No. 306-STAR07-05, MN
Department of Natural Resources, Two Harbors, MN 55616. FINAL REPORT to the
Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program – 2006
Walker, W.W., 1999. Simplified Procedures for Eutrophication Assessment and Prediction: User
Manual. US Army Corps of Engineers Instruction Report W-96-2, 235 p.).
Wolter, P. 2007 (In press). Wolter, P.T., C.A. Johnston, and G. J. Niemi, Land use land cover
change in the U.S. Great Lakes basin 1992 to 2001, Int. Journal for Great Lakes Res.

27
2001- 2007 N. Shore Stream Monitoring Program
FLUX Model loading estimates
Jesse Anderson, MPCA, 3/08
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) Total Phosphorus Total Nitrogen (TKN + NO2 + NO3) Total Chloride
Flow
Flow Flow Weighted
Total Flow Volume Flow Weighted Weighted Weighted Mean
Drainage Area (HM3; Open Water Mass Mean Conc. Coefficient Mean Conc. Coefficient Mean Conc. Yield Coefficient Conc. Coefficient
Stream (sq. miles) Year Season) Generalized Climate Note Mass load (pounds) (tons) (mg/L) Yield (lbs/mi2) of Variation Mass (pounds) Mass (tons) (ug/L) 2
Yield (lbs/mi ) of Variation Mass (pounds) Mass (tons) (mg/L) (lbs/mi2) of Variation Mass (pounds) Mass (tons) (mg/L) Yield (lbs/mi2) of Variation
Amity 16.39 2002 12.32 Big Snow Year 1,969,457 984 72.6 120,092 0.37 3,306 1.60 122 201.0 0.37 28,730 14.3 1.0 1,751 0.4 434,477 217.0 16.0 26,493 0.37
2003 6.37 Dry Summer 404,993 202 29.0 24,695 0.10 1,260 0.63 89 76.8 0.27 17,162 8.5 1.2 1,046 0.2 340,340 170.0 24.2 20,753 0.06
2004 11.07 slightly wetter than average 2,080,111 1,040 85.3 126,840 0.03 1,810 0.90 74 110.0 0.35 567,670 283.8 23.3 34,615 0.09
2005 10.16 Dry Summer 554,435 277 24.8 33,808 0.24 1,438 0.71 64 87.7 0.15 406,885 203.4 18.2 24,810 0.07
2006 6.58 Significant Summer Drought 370,026 185 25.5 22,563 0.16 932 0.46 65 56.8 0.16 243,170 121.5 16.8 14,827 0.05
2007 no load calculations - missing flow data; bridge reconstruction

Talmadge 5.45 2001 2.96 118,583 59 18.2 21,758 0.33 400 0.20 62 73.5 0.18
2002 3.62 343,089 171 43.0 62,952 0.37 759 0.37 95 139.0 0.22 8,521 4.2 1.0 1,563 0.4 52,403 26.2 6.6 9,615 0.37
2003 2.47 89,623 45 16.0 16,444 0.11 455 0.22 83 83.5 0.09 7,528 3.7 1.3 1,381 0.1 64,314 32.1 11.8 11,800 0.13
2004 5.87 134,211 67 10.3 24,625 0.40 591 0.29 45 108.0 0.18 129,364 64.6 10.0 23,736 0.10
2005 5.35 78,245 39 6.6 14,356 0.23 558 0.27 47 102.5 0.09 113,995 56.9 9.6 20,916 0.15
2006 4.3 104,889 52 10.8 19,245 0.40 380 0.19 39 69.8 0.08 82,979 41.4 8.5 15,225 0.04
2007 5.45 extreme midsummer drought; big rains in Oct. 104,889 52 19.0 19,246 0.42 605 0.30 64 111.0 0.18 68,490 34.2 7.3 12,567 0.13

French 19.6 2002 14.02 1,296,064 648 42.0 66,125 0.33 1,912 0.95 62 97.5 0.14 24,366 12.1 0.8 1,243 0.3 113,197 56.5 3.6 5,775 0.33
2003 6.76 221,667 111 14.8 11,309 0.37 704 0.35 47 35.9 0.18 12,740 6.3 0.9 650 0.1 81,171 40.5 5.4 4,141 0.11
2004 13.37 258,990 129 8.8 13,213 0.23 939 0.46 31 47.9 0.11 148,401 74.2 5.0 7,571 0.10
2005 14.2 761,750 381 24.2 38,864 0.28 1,447 0.72 46 73.8 0.13 146,784 73.3 4.6 7,488 0.12
2006 16.3 410,086 205 11.4 20,922 0.17 1,163 0.58 32 59.4 0.06 159,040 79.5 4.4 8,114 0.04
2007 no load calculations- missing 5 weeks of spring flow data

Sucker 39 2001 30.64 3,362,311 1,681 49.8 86,213 0.23 6,403 3.20 95 164.2 0.11
2002 28.38 955,270 477 15.3 24,494 0.25 3,309 1.65 53 84.8 0.15 55,568 27.7 0.9 1,424 0.3 127,369 63.6 2.0 3,265 0.25
2003 17.46 683,388 342 17.7 17,522 0.37 2,175 1.00 56 55.7 0.19 37,939 18.9 1.0 972 0.1 86,977 43.4 2.2 2,230 0.09
2004 23.9 624,179 312 11.8 16,004 0.23 1,848 0.92 35 47.3 0.16 142,846 71.4 2.7 3,662 0.34
2005 25.23 1,446,203 723 26.0 37,082 0.34 3,579 1.70 64 91.7 0.17 135,236 67.6 2.4 3,467 0.13
2006 23.5 1,338,984 669 25.9 34,332 0.60 2,646 1.30 51 67.9 0.26 85,087 42.5 1.6 2,181 0.08
2007 26.99 significant summer drought, big fall rains 791,837 871 29.3 44,668 0.39 3,553 1.78 60 91.1 0.20 111,012 55.5 7.3 2,846 0.13

Poplar- Up 112.3 2002 42.88 503,754 251 5.3 4,482 0.11 2,289 1.14 24 20.4 0.08 74,525 37.2 0.8 663 0.1 145,277 72.6 1.5 1,292 0.11
2003 45.61 442,547 221 4.4 3,937 0.17 2,501 1.25 25 22.2 0.10 88,946 44.4 0.9 791 0.1 173,082 86.5 1.7 1,540 0.07
2004 69.1 ~ 25 yr. rain event in May 807,659 404 5.3 7,186 0.21 4,639 2.30 30 41.2 0.25 199,047 99.5 1.3 1,771 0.04
2005 56.12 678,315 339 5.4 6,035 0.19 3,069 1.50 25 27.3 0.05 150,099 75.0 1.2 1,335 0.05
2006 59.9 1,038,785 519 7.8 9,243 0.25 3,335 1.66 25 29.7 0.08 166,524 83.2 1.2 1,481 0.03
2007 47.1 significant summer drought, big fall rains 1,121,956 561 10.8 9,984 0.12 3,546 1.77 34 31.6 0.08 194,601 97.3 1.9 1,732 0.03

Poplar- Down 114 2002 43.51 2,949,769 1,474 30.8 25,872 0.29 5,214 2.60 54 45.7 0.22 80,406 40.2 0.8 705 0.3 193,358 96.6 2.0 1,695 0.29
2003 47.02 1,976,112 988 19.1 17,332 0.39 4,019 2.00 39 35.2 0.33 100,102 50.0 1.0 878 0.1 212,168 106.0 2.0 1,860 0.10
2004 71.3 ~ 25 yr. rain event in May 3,364,596 1,682 21.4 29,511 0.26 5,918 2.90 37 51.9 0.22 236,858 118.4 1.6 2,077 0.08
2005 57.85 1,351,326 676 10.6 11,852 0.25 4,285 2.10 34 37.5 0.14 195,252 97.6 1.5 1,712 0.12
2006 61.7 1,769,726 885 13.0 15,522 0.26 4,129 2.06 30 36.2 0.13 195,192 97.5 1.4 1,712 0.04
2007 48.6 significant summer drought, big fall rains 1,513,415 757 14.1 13,274 0.27 3,876 1.94 36 34.0 0.18 266,922 133.5 2.4 2,341 0.15

Brule 270.1 2002 82.83 1,201,416 600 6.5 4,447 0.37 3,826 1.91 21 14.1 0.18 123,913 61.9 0.7 458 0.4 260,583 130.0 1.4 964 0.37
2003 102.2 1,077,443 539 4.7 3,988 0.26 6,166 3.00 27 22.8 0.20 170,656 85.3 0.8 631 0.1 345,710 172.8 1.5 1,279 0.04
2004 309 ~ 25 yr. rain event in May 2,749,331 1,375 6.3 10,178 0.23 9,944 4.90 22 36.8 0.09 469,486 234.7 1.1 1,738 0.02
2005 194.9 2,410,162 1,205 5.6 8,923 0.13 9,264 4.60 22 34.3 0.13 503,811 251.9 1.1 1,865 0.11
2006 165.6 2,247,465 1,123 6.1 8,320 0.19 9,319 4.65 26.0 34.5 0.11 392,482 196.2 1.0 1,453 0.02
2007 315 very high flow in Oct. ~ 60 % of TSS load from one event 12,408,818 6,204 17.8 45,941 0.30 26,024 13.0 37.5 96.3 0.16 1,034,620 517.3 1.5 3,830 0.04
TSS
Year Poplar_Up Poplar_Down TSS Load (pounds) TSS Load (tons)
2002 503,754 2,949,769 2,446,015 1,223.01
2003 442,547 1,976,112 1,533,565 766.78
2004 807,659 3,364,596 2,556,937 1,278.47
2005 678,315 1,351,326 673,011 336.51
2006 1,038,785 1,769,726 730,941 365.47
2007 1,121,956 1,513,415 391,459 195.73