Comprehensive Water Management Plan - St. Louis County

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areas approximate a suburban character. While no streams other than the Cloquet River itself arecurrently listed, many lakes and the reservoirs are listed for mercury.The St. Louis River watershed is the dominant feature of the county. The entire river is listed asimpaired for mercury; from Cloquet downstream is an area of historical industrial impacts withsignificant water quality issues. The river and estuary are listed for the following impairments:polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); mercury, dieldrin; dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT);and other persistent bio-accumulative toxics. The entire estuary is listed as an EPA Great LakesArea of Concern. It is also the receptacle, and now source, for numerous invasive species. Incontrast, the rest of the watershed appears relatively healthy. Many lakes are listed for mercury.However, considering the size of the watershed, little assessment has actually been done at thesub-watershed level, especially at the north end of the watershed. The headwaters along the southside of the Laurentian divide have been heavily impacted by mining, and despite this history,there is little data available.Both in geography and intensity, significant gaps remain in water quality data throughout thecounty. It is only in the last two years that full scale monitoring for the two largest watersheds(St. Louis and Little Fork) occurred. There has been a historical assumption that aside from somespecific locations, such as St. Louis Bay, water quality is generally good. However, asmonitoring has been accomplished, more problems, both current and historical, are found. TheImpairment-TMDL process is science based, takes time and in most cases is just beginning.Considerable work will be required to move through the stages of watershed restoration.22
Implementation SchedulePriority Concern #1: DevelopmentGoal #1: Mitigate impacts from development. Emphasis: Sensitive areas, includinglakeshore, wetlands, and riparian areas along streams and rivers.Action Agency Timeline Estimated Cost1. Assist lake associations andproperty owners to identify potentialareas for restoration andSWCD; DNR; BWSR 2010-2020 $30,000implementation.2. Encourage implementation ofinnovative stormwater managementpractices.3. Provide the most currentinformation about BMP's tocorrect/prevent erosion using nativespecies along lakes and rivers.4. Implement stormwater managementand erosion control retrofit projects byspecific watershed or lakeshed.5. Provide technical and financialassistance for BMP installation forstormwater and erosion controlprojects.6. Develop and/or distributeeducational media on the importance ofBMP implementation and proper landuse development.St. Louis County, LGU’s,SWCD, DNRAll local governmentunits with zoningauthority, SWCD's, DNR,BWSR2010-2020 Project Dependent2010-2020 Project DependentSWCD, BWSR 2010-2010 Project DependentSWCD; LGU; MPCA 2010-2020 $100,000/yrSt. Louis County, DNR,BWSR, SWCD's2010-2015 $300,000Goal #2: Develop policies and guidelines that address existing and future development.Action Agency Timeline Estimated Cost1. Broaden and strengthen countyordinances to include stormwater anderosion control requirements. Supportstrengthening similar ordinances inother local government units.2. Develop policies requiringmitigation measures for all variancerequests in shoreland areas.3. Encourage the county to developpolicies that effectively plan for futuredevelopment and growth such asupdating the county comprehensiveplan. Support LGU's to plan or updateexisting plans.St. Louis County, allother government unitswith zoning authoritySt. Louis County, allother government unitswith zoning authoritySt. Louis County, allother government unitswith zoning authority2010-2020 $20,0002010-2015 $2,0002010-2015 $50,00023
Page 2 and 3: County CommissionersSteve Raukar, C
Page 4 and 5: Executive SummaryThe intent of this
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Page 11 and 12: Lake Superior Basin Plan: The Lake
Page 13 and 14: Assessment of Priority ConcernsThes
Page 15 and 16: stormwater runoff into compromised
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Page 21: to the MPCA, past monitoring sugges
Page 25 and 26: 8. Provide education on thetechnolo
Page 27 and 28: Priority Concern #4: Impaired Water
Page 29 and 30: GlossaryAOC:BMP:BWSR:DNR:DOT:EPA:GI

Comprehensive Water Management Plan - St. Louis County

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