Page 34 - MRWATODAYWinter2021final

MN Rural Water Assoc. pg 1

Organization Background

ounded in 1978, the Minnesota Rural
FWater Association (MRWA) is a non-
profi t organization that provides technical
assistance to and trains personnel at small
municipal and non-municipal systems, rural
water districts, and wastewater districts
with populations less than 10,000. They
off er professional services in several areas,
including state and federal regulations,
fi scal management, system operation and
Ella Carlson maintenance, source water protections,
Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, and more. The Minnesota Pollution
University of Minnesota Twin Cities Control Agency (MPCA) is the leading
organization that monitors environmental
quality and enforces environment regulations in the state of Minnesota. Both
MRWA and MPCA are partnered with MnTAP to identify nutrient removal
solutions for wastewater ponds across Minnesota.

Project Background
Funded through a grant by the
Legislative Citizen Commission on
Minnesota Resources (LCCMR), the goal
of the partnership of MnTAP, MRWA,
and MPCA is to work with cities in
optimizing the removal of nitrogen and
phosphorus from their wastewater.
Doing so involves analyzing current
operations of their wastewater pond systems, researching best practices,
calculating potential improvements, suggesting operational changes, and
Jerald Lim promoting the implementation of these low-cost solutions. The scope of this
Chemical Engineering, University of project encompasses the wastewater treatment ponds in the cities of Roseau,
Minnesota Twin Cities
Warroad, Breckenridge, and Karlstad. Ella Carlson and Jerald Lim were the
MnTAP interns leading the analysis with these pond sites. Ella took lead on
the Breckenridge and Karlstad assessments while Jerald led the projects with
Roseau and Warroad.

Incentives To Change
Nutrients in water, namely nitrogen and phosphorus, which come from agriculture, industry, or domestic households
pose a serious threat to the health of aquatic environments. With an overabundance of these nutrients, algae are able
to grow rapidly in local and international bodies of water. The excessive algal biomass consumes most of the oxygen
in the water, leading to the depletion of oxygen and the subsequent death of aquatic animal and plant life in these
ecosystems. In order to prevent these negative effects from occurring, the MPCA has placed limits on the phosphorus
discharge in the effluents of wastewater ponds.

34 MRWA TODAY S WINTER 2021
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