The Land of 4,000 Impaired Waters

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

21-4-2014 2:00 PM

End Date

21-4-2014 3:30 PM

Student's Major

Construction Management

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Matthew Durand

Mentor's Department

Construction Management

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

When most people think of Minnesota they think of pristine natural resources and beautiful lakes. But is that the truth? Minnesota has a major problem under the surface, 40% of Minnesota’s waters are considered impaired. Being the land of 10,000 lakes don’t we have a responsibility to take care of these great waters? Minnesota is home to three great headwaters the Great Lakes, Mississippi, and Red rivers. Because of our geographical location we have a responsibility to the environment and to our neighbors not to pass off our pollutants. It’s pretty obvious that we have a problem, so I would like to present a possible solution “the Owatonna Tree Pit.” The city of Owatonna is tasked with creating a solution for the trees in their sidewalks. The trees are having trouble collecting rainfall because of the inability of the water to permeate through the concrete. This is causing the tree root systems to push up the concrete above them, as a response to their inability to gather water. Owatonna has thought of a clever way to water the trees and at the same time clean and purify the water before it makes its way into the storm sewer system. The city plans to plant three different trees two of which will use this system and one that will not. They will take trunk measurements to see if they grow faster with this new construction method and they will also test pollutant runoff from the trees.

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Apr 21st, 2:00 PM Apr 21st, 3:30 PM

The Land of 4,000 Impaired Waters

CSU Ballroom

When most people think of Minnesota they think of pristine natural resources and beautiful lakes. But is that the truth? Minnesota has a major problem under the surface, 40% of Minnesota’s waters are considered impaired. Being the land of 10,000 lakes don’t we have a responsibility to take care of these great waters? Minnesota is home to three great headwaters the Great Lakes, Mississippi, and Red rivers. Because of our geographical location we have a responsibility to the environment and to our neighbors not to pass off our pollutants. It’s pretty obvious that we have a problem, so I would like to present a possible solution “the Owatonna Tree Pit.” The city of Owatonna is tasked with creating a solution for the trees in their sidewalks. The trees are having trouble collecting rainfall because of the inability of the water to permeate through the concrete. This is causing the tree root systems to push up the concrete above them, as a response to their inability to gather water. Owatonna has thought of a clever way to water the trees and at the same time clean and purify the water before it makes its way into the storm sewer system. The city plans to plant three different trees two of which will use this system and one that will not. They will take trunk measurements to see if they grow faster with this new construction method and they will also test pollutant runoff from the trees.

Recommended Citation

Holtz, Bradley. "The Land of 4,000 Impaired Waters." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 21, 2014.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2014/poster_session_B/12