Basin Alliance for the Lower Mississippi in Minnesota October10, 2003
<<BALMMAgenda10-15-03.doc>>
OCTOBER 15 BALMM MEETING HIGHLIGHTS: Lots of late-breaking news to discuss, including:
o Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) - Governor Pawlenty is expected to make an announcement in southeast Minnesota any day now. Bev Nordby will bring us up to date and lead a discussion of what comes next.
o Root River Watershed Pilot -- The Clean Water Cabinet confirmed our selection of the Root River watershed as a pilot project area for the governor's Clean Water Initiative in SE Minnesota. The S. Branch Root River watershed will be a focus area for accelerated implementation. A plan is being developed on how to transfer results from the focus area to the whole watershed.
o Water Quality Forum for Elected Officials - Mark your calendars for November 12, the date of the Southeast Minnesota Water Quality Forum for Elected Officials, to take place at the Heintz Center in Rochester. Governor Pawlenty has been invited to address the forum, which will provide an opportunity for us to learn about the governor's Clean Water Initiative, and to tell elected officials about our common goals and collaborative projects for working toward them.
Also on the agenda:
o Ranking of 319 projects - four implementation projects, and three demonstration projects. "Voting units" will come prepared with rankings.
o Karst campaign update - Part of the project includes providing detailed maps of sensitive karst features to share with landowners and township officers. Tim Wagar will bring us up to date.
o Cost estimates for TMDL Implementation -- For the final Regional Fecal Coliform TMDL Implementation Plan, it is estimated that it will cost about $200 million to implement measures to achieve a 65% source reduction, the amount required to meet water quality standards according to the TMDL study. Norman Senjem will review the cost estimates.
o Fostering Sustainable Behavior Workshop -- They rolled out the red carpet for the so-called "sewage squad" -- an affectionate term for the people involved in the Southeast Minnesota Wastewater Initiative - by inviting about 20 of us to a workshop on Community-Based Social Marketing by Doug MacKenzie-Mohr, an environmental psychologist from St Thomas University, New Brunswick. We'll try to summarize the approach he suggests, and specifically how it could be applied to fixing nonconforming septic systems.
TAKING STOCK: It is now four years since the fall of 1999, when a series of local discussions began that by winter 2000 became a group called "BALMM". With our SE Minnesota CREP proposal about to be submitted to Washington D.C. as part of a state CREP package, and Governor Pawlenty's Clean Water Initiative including specific goals for SE Minnesota streams, plus selection of the Root River Watershed as a pilot area, we are probably justified in noting that we have succeeded in accomplishing the two main objectives we set for ourselves four years ago. These are, to quote our BALMM Brochure: 1) Make the case to the public, elected officials and funding sources for giving priority attention to water quality restoration and protection in southeast Minnesota; 2) Establish ongoing coordination of local, state, tribal and federal agencies to plan and implement water quality protection and restoration activities that are economically and environmentally sustainable and reflect local and downstream priorities."
THE TASK AHEAD: Having accomplished our original objectives, our task now is becoming twofold: 1) Maintain the momentum we have managed to create, in the face of tight budgets; 2) Create an "accounting system" that will enable us to document progress toward specific land use and water quality objectives, and help us to adjust implementation strategies as needed to continue making progress - practice "adaptive management," to use a well-worn phrase. As we roll up our sleeves to implement CREP, focus on the Root River watershed, and continue forging ahead with broad, basinwide efforts, we will also need to devote time and resources to creating a system that will help us to evaluate the effectiveness of what we're implementing. - Editor's note.
HYPOXIA IN THE NEWS: On September 28, the Naples (FL) Daily News published the first installment of a fifteen part series titled "Deep Trouble: A Gulf Under Siege." For other collages working on nitrate reduction strategies to the Gulf, this article is an attention getter.
<http://www.naplesnews.com/03/09/naples/d854418a.htm>
FIRST HUMAN DEATH ATTRIBUTED TO ALGAE TOXIN: In a sad story, after a yearlong investigation, the Dane County, Wisconsin coroner declared that the mysterious death of a teen last summer was likely due to exposure to algae toxin. It was a hot day, and 17-year old Dane Rogers and several of his buddies decided to take a dip in a scum-covered golf course pond. Soon afterwards, Rogers fell ill, suffering shock and seizure before dying of heart failure two days later. Several of the boy's friends also became ill after the incident, but survived. In this case, the culprit appeared to be the blue-green algae Anabaena flos-aquae, which releases Anatoxin-a. Water testing and blood samples from the victims confirmed the presence of the algae and the toxin, but some experts are not completely convinced that the algae was to blame. Until now, there has never been a case of human death due to algae toxin for comparison, although there have been cases of dogs and other animals being killed. County Coroner John Stanley and the boy's parents decided to publicize the case in order to raise awareness about the potential dangers of contacting water affected by an algae bloom. Blue-green algae is common in lakes and ponds during the summer months, but toxins are only released by certain species, and even then only after the algae population has become excessive. The toxins tend to be diluted in larger lakes and rivers, and are easily removed by commercial drinking water facilities. For more information about algae blooms, see the July 2003 issue of Lake and Watershed News. <http://www.fxbrowne.com/html/newsletters/july03_art_6.htm>
-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 6, 2003
Send comments and items for future editions to:
balmm currents editor: Norman Senjem, MPCA
Phone: 507/280-3592
Fax: 507/280-5513
norman.senjem@pca.state.mn.us