St. Louis River TMDL monitoring NOR
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Purpose

The St. Louis River flows into Lake Superior in the Duluth/Superior area. The lower reach of the river and the surrounding area has been identified as a Great Lakes AOC. A TMDL is being developed to address contamination by mercury and other organic contaminants. The project is a cooperative effort between EPA, MPCA, WDNR, and the Fond du Lac tribe. WDNR will be monitoring multiple sites during 2013 and 2014 to support the effort.

Objective

The project will provide mercury concentration information on water and biota (phytoplankton, zooplankton, odonates, crayfish, yoy yellow perch). This information is needed to develop a mercury model and ultimately a TMDL to target control of the contaminants present. SPMD's will also be deployed to assess organic contaminants in the water column. Water samples, phytoplankton, and zooplankton samples will be collected at 9 sites. Other biota samples will be collected from 5 zones (with 5 sites within each zone). Waterbodies present in the sampling area (with WBIC's) include the St. Louis River (2443800), Nemadji River (2835300), Allouez Bay (2751400), Spirit Lake (4000004), and Superior Bay (2751300). Water samples will be collected monthly from April-September, with additional high flow event sampling. Phytoplankton and zooplankton sampling will be done 2-3 times. Other biota sampling will be done once in each zone during the 2 year effort. A "Field Sampling Plan for Project Sampling" has been prepared under an EPA contract by the Great Lakes Environmental Center and is guiding the monitoring effort. This plan is still being finalized by the project partners and may change somewhat before sampling begins.

Outcome

The project will provide mercury concentration information on water and biota (phytoplankton, zooplankton, odonates, crayfish, yoy yellow perch) to help develop a mercury model and ultimately a TMDL to target control of the contaminants present. Deliverables will be collection and shipment of the required samples and measurement of field parameters. MPCA will be providing $400,000 to cover sample collection in the Upper St. Louis River and all sample analyses through a contract with USGS. The Fond du Lac tribe will collect samples in the Middle St. Louis River and has offered to contribute $20,000 towards other project expenses. WIDNR's contribution to the monitoring effort will only include sample collection in the Lower St. Louis River at a cost of $8,300 (the total budget for this project proposal). The data will be developed by other project partners in cooperation with WIDNR.

Study Design

see above. SWIMS stations are TBD.

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