*Life Support: A Clean-Up Plan For The Metro Mississippi River* TMDL Open House 

Merriam Park Library, 1831 Marshall Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104

Please join Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR), the National Park Service’s Mississippi National River & Recreation Area (MNRRA) and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for a public open house on the South Metro Mississippi River Clean-Up Plan.

The Mississippi River is essential to the high quality of life in the Twin Cities area and beyond. It serves as a drinking water source, transportation corridor, and critical habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife. Unfortunately, the River from its confluence with the Minnesota River in St. Paul to Red Wing currently fails to meet basic health standards. The water is so turbid (full of muddy sediment) that the river’s plant and animal life suffers. This sediment is also filling in Lake Pepin - a large natural lake on the Mississippi River near the Red Wing / Lake City area.

The MPCA is releasing a clean-up plan (or Total Maximum Daily Load, TMDL) to address this problem. Open house attendees will learn more about this plan, what it means for Minnesota, and have the opportunity to contribute their thoughts and feedback on achieving a clean and healthy Mississippi River.

There will be presentations at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., each followed by a Q&A session with a panel of water quality and restoration experts. Agency staff will be on-hand throughout the event to answer questions and explain the project in detail.

To learn more about the South Metro Mississippi Turbidity TMDL, visit the MPCA’s Mississippi River TMDL Page at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/water/water-types-and-programs/minnesotas-impaired-waters-and-tmdls/tmdl-projects/lower-mississippi-river-basin-tmdl-projects/project-south-metro-mississippi-turbidity.html.

For more info about this event, please contact FMR’s Trevor Russell at (651) 222-2193 x18 and trussell@fmr, or MNRRA’s Lark Weller at (651) 290-3030 x304 and lark_weller@nps.gov.

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MPCA by swnyhus