Duluth Opens Stormwater Partnership With Businesses

The newly formed Superior Streams Partner Program aims to reduce the runoff from local streets and parking lots that now flows into Lake Superior. Duluth is located at the western tip of the lake, the westernmost of the Great Lakes.

The new Superior Streams Partner Program is open to all Duluth and surrounding area businesses, churches, schools or other organizations that want to "green up" their business or organizational practices, or help protect the environment, the RSPT said in a statement.

Businesses that choose to participate pledge to make an effort to control or reduce their stormwater runoff by installing Best Management Practices, doing a service project with their employees, students or congregation members, and/or helping to further the educational efforts of the Regional Stormwater Protection Team.

Announcing the new partnership on Saturday, the RSPT said the benefits of becoming a partner include "peace of mind in knowing your business is choosing to be part of the solution to the problem of stormwater pollution."

Benefits also include free access to area stormwater professionals and public recognition of business efforts, including recognition on the Regional Stormwater Protection Team website and recognition at RSPT educational events such as the 2009 Watershed Festival.

Today, the RSPT recognizes Julie McDonnell from Environmentally Conscious Options at 517 Garfield Ave in Duluth for becoming the first member of the Superior Streams Partner Program.

The Regional Stormwater Protection Team consists of the cities of Duluth, Hermantown, Proctor, Cloquet and Superior; University of Wisconsin-Superior; University of Minnesota-Duluth and its Sea Grant Program and Natural Resources Research Institute; St. Louis County; South St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District; the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation; Western Lake Superior Sanitary District; Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; the Fond du Lac Reservation; and Duluth Township.

As part of its commitment to the RSPT, the University of Minnesota-Duluth has constructed a rain garden covering one-third of an acre that can hold over 60,000 gallons of water. Stormwater from 2.5 acres of the parking lot is directed to the settling basin where sand and debris sink to the bottom. As the settling basin fills, water overflows in the rain garden. Some of the water is used by the plants, some evaporates, some soaks into the ground and some is released into the storm sewer.

"Being a great university on a Great Lake means we have a tremendous responsibility to the nearby waterways that feed into Lake Superior, and we take that responsibility seriously," said UMD Chancellor Kathryn Martin. "We'll find ways to soften our impact on the environment in every phase of development, and we hope the rest of the Duluth community will also."

The RSPT educational campaign is supported by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources-Waters and Minnesota's Lake Superior Coastal Program through the Coastal Zone Management Act, which is administered through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.

Find out more at: www.lakesuperiorstreams.org

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