MnTAP

LCCMR Wastewater Nutrient Optimization Project

The purpose of this project was to work with 6-10 mechanical wastewater treatment plants and 6-10 wastewater pond sites in order to identify low and no-cost strategies to achieve better treatment for nutrient pollution. Additionally, this project completed a series of comprehensive testing in six Minnesota wastewater pond sites in each season in order to gather information to compare characteristics between ponds that naturally achieve good nutrient treatment and those that do not. Nutrient pollution in environmental water bodies can cause algal blooms through a process called eutrophication. If left unchecked, these algal blooms will consume the oxygen in the water, creating a dead zone which is not suitable for life of typical aerobic organisms such as fish. Better nutrient treatment will result in cleaner lakes and rivers in Minnesota, and help to reduce eutrophication issues for waterbodies downstream of Minnesota.