The stormwater management system for the cities of Lauderdale, Falcon Heights, Roseville and Saint Paul, Seminary Pond, has recently received an upgrade. 

The project started back in September 2020 and went through four months of heavy construction before pausing in December 2020. The team joined again to finish up the project in the Spring of 2021. This is when our team was contacted to help promote the project and spread the word to the surrounding communities.

The Challenge:

The stormwater management system holds the run-off water from cities and then releases the water into the Mississippi River. This water contains a lot of pollutants and over time could start to affect the health of the water in the Mississippi River. 

This change would take a lot of hard work and the team from the Capital Region Watershed District and the cities of Lauderdale, Falcon Heights, Roseville and Saint Paul wanted to get the word out. 

They knew they could rely on us to get the word out to the communities that this would impact. 

The Solution:

The team working on the stormwater management system decided to improve Seminary Pond. This pond is where the water run-off goes before it ends up in the Mississippi River. 

They worked to implement technology to remove the sediment and phosphorus from the stormwater. They started by clearing the sediment build-up in the water pipes and then installed two iron-enhanced sand filter wrenches on either side of the pond to catch the remaining sediment and phosphorus in the water. 

To help inform the public about the project two of our producers went out to the site of the stormwater management system. They conducted interviews and shot some videos of the site to ensure that they would have enough footage to put together a video. 

The Results: 

Our video was able to inform the residents of the cities affected. With the work and improvements on the stormwater management system, the pollutant loads of the water have decreased by 40%. 

Adaptation Prompting:

Is there an important project happening in your city? Is there little to no information about it for the public? Connect with us if you have any questions about how we can help.