Leveraging Minnesota's Stormwater Data for Improved Modeling and Management of Water Quality in Cities

Abstract

This 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.