Browsing by Subject "runoff"
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Item Analysis of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces in downtown Minneapolis, MN(2021-09) Faust, BrittanyUrban stormwater runoff is a major concern for water quality. Impervious surfaces, especially in urban environments, can allow contaminated stormwater direct access to receiving waterbodies. Impervious surfaces make up nearly 90% of land cover in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. When rain falls or snow melts, pollutants quickly transfer from those surfaces into nearby waterways. A study of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota USA was conducted to understand potential impacts of different types of impervious surfaces (i.e., streets, sidewalks, parking lots and rooftops). The results of this study could be used to inform urban stormwater management strategies, particularly when the makeup of the area is mostly impervious surfaces. Between summer 2017 and spring 2018, a rainfall simulator was used to deliver water upon street, sidewalk, and parking lot sites, which removed differences in rainfall characteristics, and tested the role of varying surface types and seasonal differences. Characteristics of rooftop runoff were studied using natural rainfall and snowmelt event data collected year-round with automated samplers and rain gauges. Results showed that the first flush of runoff contained higher pollutant concentrations compared to the whole rain event, and water quality differences for all of the surfaces were relatively minor for the summer and fall seasons. The greatest difference was observed with higher pollutant concentrations occurring in the spring for all sites, particularly on streets. Higher than expected concentrations of chloride in the winter occurred from roofs, though concentrations were overall much smaller than the ground sites in the spring. Street event mean concentrations (EMCs) were the highest across different stormwater constituents, including chloride, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids. For each stormwater constituent, when the average EMC value was used for calculating pollutant loading instead of individual surface type EMC values, street contributions were underestimated, and the other surface types were overestimated due to the higher pollutant concentrations from streets than other impervious surfaces.Item Characterization of Runoff Quality from Paved Low-Volume Roads and Optimization of Treatment Methods(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2020-09) Natarajan, Poornima; Weiss, Peter T.; Gulliver, John S.Vehicular traffic contributes a large fraction of the pollutant load in stormwater runoff from roadways. While runoff concentrations have historically been characterized for urban roads with high average daily traffic (ADT), the runoff quality from paved rural roads that have relatively low ADT is largely unknown. In this study, runoff from low-volume roads (ADT < 1500) in Minnesota was monitored at 10 locations during 174 rainfall events in 2018 and 2019. The initial concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate+nitrite, and heavy metals in the runoff, and the relationship between measured concentrations and site-specific conditions were analyzed. Concentrations were strongly influenced by the surrounding land use and soil type. Sites with agricultural lands had higher mean TSS, TP, and zinc concentrations, and lower nitrite+nitrate concentrations than wooded sites, which can be related to the type of soil that would get transported onto the roadways. When compared to existing urban runoff quality data, the estimated event mean concentrations (EMCs) in rural road runoff were substantially lower for copper and zinc and marginally lower for TSS, TP and nitrate+nitrite. Based on detailed cost-benefit analysis of various roadside treatment options, roadside drainage ditches/swales are recommended for cost-effective treatment of runoff from low-volume roads over ponds, sand filters and infiltration basins. Example road widening projects were also modeled to determine how stormwater management requirements can be achieved using drainage ditches/swales.Item Characterization of streams and rivers in the Minnesota River Basin Critical Observatory: water chemistry and biological field collections, 2013-2016(2017-09-06) Dolph, Christine, L.; Hansen, Amy, T.; Kemmitt, Katie, L.; Janke, Ben; Rorer, Michelle; Winikoff, Sarah; Baker, Anna; Boardman, Evelyn; Finlay, Jacques, C.; dolph008@umn.edu; Dolph, Christine, L.This dataset was collected to inform the Water, Sustainability and Climate Minnesota River Basin Observatory, and was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1209402 Water, Sustainability and Climate (WSC) – Category 2, Collaborative: Climate and human dynamics as amplifiers of natural change: a framework for vulnerability assessment and mitigation planning. The dataset contains point locations, watershed areas and water quality information for 231 ditch, stream, river and wetland sites located in the Le Sueur River, Chippewa River, Cottonwood River, Cannon River, Wantonwan River and Blue Earth River basins of Minnesota. Study sites ranged in size from 1st order ditches and streams to an 8th order river. Each of these sites was sampled at least once between 2013-2016 (most sites were sampled multiple times) for one or more of the following parameters: 1) water chemistry (total dissolved nitrogen, nitrate-N, nitrite-N, ammonium-N, particulate nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus, particulate phosphorus, total phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon, particulate carbon, chlorophyll a, total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids, delta-H-2 and delta-O-18 stable isotopes of site water, specific UV absorbance (SUVA) of site water, fluorescence index (FI) of site water); 2) stable isotopes (delta-C-13, delta-N-15, delta-H-2) of invertebrate consumers, particulate carbon and potential food sources; 3) denitrification rates and characteristics of benthic sediment in agricultural drainage ditches; and 4) stream discharge. This dataset also includes spatial data files containing study site locations and watershed areas delineated for each site.Item Effects of Drainage Projects on Surface Runoff from Small Depressional Watersheds in the North Central Region(Water Resources Research Center, University of Minnesota, 1979-01) Moore, Ian D.; Larson, Curtis L.Surface runoff from small watersheds characterized by numerous depressions was studied statistically and by use of a special purpose watershed model. The statistical analyses illustrated the possible magnitude of the storage effect exhibited by lakes, marshes and other depressions. Because of data limitations statistical techniques could not be used to examine the effects on flood runoff of draining these same areas. The model, described in the Bulletin, represents the process of snowmelt, infiltration, soil moisture storage, evapotranspiration, subsurface and surface runoff for four different land drainage conditions, with or without channel development. Application of the model to two small watersheds in Jackson County, Minnesota indicated that drainage development increases annual runoff, storm runoff and peak discharge. The physical characteristics of the main water course in the watershed was the major factor influencing peak discharge at the watershed outlet. Examination of annual flood flows on the Minnesota River at Mankato suggests that downstream effects of drainage development on large watersheds are much less than indicated by this study on small watersheds. Downstream effects and flooding within a watershed are discussed in general terms in the Bulletin.Item Enhancement and Application of the Minnesota Dry Swale Calculator(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2016-04) Garcia-Serrana, Maria; Gulliver, John S.; Nieber, John L.Roadside drainage ditches (roadside grassed swales) typically receive runoff directly from the road and water is infiltrated over the side slope of the ditch, similar to a filter strip. Water that runs off the side slopes then has a further opportunity to infiltrate as it flows down the center of the ditch. This research focuses on the volume reduction performance of grassed drainage ditches or swales by infiltration. A total of 32 tests were performed during three seasons in four different highways maintained by MnDOT in the Twin Cities metro area. The field-measured saturated hydraulic conductivities (Ksat) correspond to hydrologic soil group A, even though the soil textures indicated correspondence to hydrologic soils groups A, B and C. This means that the infiltration performance is better than expected for these types of soils. In addition, the trend was to have more infiltration when the saturated hydraulic conductivity was higher and for a greater side slope length, as expected. A coupled overland flow-infiltration model that accounts for shallow concentrated flow has been developed. The predicted infiltration loss has been compared with the actual infiltration loss determined from the monitored field tests. In this manner, the validity of the model as well as the associated soil hydraulic and surface geometry parameters have been evaluated. Using the coupled infiltration-overland flow model, multiple scenarios with sensitivity analyses have been computed, and the results have been used to generate a simplified calculator to estimate the annual infiltration performance of a grassed roadside drainage ditch.Item Increasing Participation in the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP)(2023) Kaste, Grant A; Gross, Peter S; Greene, GraceSince 2012, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has operated the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) for farmers in the state. This voluntary program certifies farmers who implement certain conservation practices that aim to improve soil and water quality. Participation in the program has slowed since its inception and remains lower than the MDA would like. This report explores methods to increase participation in the program, evaluates environmental impacts the program has delivered thus far, analyzes the costs and benefits of the program, and assesses stakeholder views of the program. Methods included utilizing available data, outreach to stakeholders, information gathering from various program meetings, and a literature review of relevant research. Our findings indicate a need for more robust data collection regarding the benefits of the program and non-participant insights, more collaboration with industry and similar programs in other states, and marketing of the program on a watershed-level basis and as one of a stack of programs available to farmers. These findings directly support our offered recommendations and other considerations to work towards the goal of improving water quality and growing conservation minded practices.Item Leveraging Minnesota's Stormwater Data for Improved Modeling and Management of Water Quality in Cities(2024) Finlay, Jacques, C.; Janke, Ben D.; Trojan, Michael; Wilson, Bruce; Marek-Spartz, MaryThis Minnesota Stormwater Research Council project distilled recent urban stormwater data into a curated database representing more than 14,000 storm events across 91 sites in Minnesota. The database represents the outcome of hard work and large investments in collection of stormwater data by many individuals and organizations over the past 15 years. We applied the database to generate characterization of runoff quantity and quality specific to Minnesota, and used it to reveal prominent features of stormwater quality and identify relationships between land cover, climate, and major stormwater pollutants. In this report, we present the database, major findings from our analyses, and discuss further opportunities to leverage stormwater data collection to research and management.Item Proceedings of the 1st Agricultural Drainage and Water Quality Field Day(2002-08-14) Strock, Jeffrey S.; Baker, Jim; Busman, Lowell; Gupta, Satish; Moncrief, John; Randall, Gyles; Russelle, Michael; Taylor, ElwynnItem Proceedings of the 6th Soil and Water Management Field Day(2017-07-18) Strock, Jeffrey S.; Ahaiblame, Lauren; Gupta, Satish; Ranaivoson, Andry; Varga, Tamas; Dalzell, Brent; Hummel, Alexander; Zhang, Lu