Minnesota River and Greater Blue Earth River Basin Total Suspended Solids Total Maximum Daily Load Study Appendices

The CWA and EPA regulations require that TMDLs be developed for waters that do not support their designated uses. In simple terms, a TMDL study determines what is needed to attain and maintain water quality standards in waters that are not currently meeting them. A TMDL study identifies pollutant sources as specifically as possible and allocates pollutant loads among those sources. The total of all allocations, including WLAs for point sources, LAs for nonpoint sources (including natural background), and the MOS, which is implicitly or explicitly defined, cannot exceed the maximum allowable pollutant load. This TMDL study covers 61 turbidity and TSS impairments along the Minnesota River and its tributaries, including all of the turbidity and TSS-impaired streams in the Greater Blue Earth River Basin (Blue Earth River, Le Sueur River, and Watonwan River watersheds. These are the appendices to the TMDL report.