St. Anthony Regional Stormwater Treatment and Research System

An estimated 169 million gallons of polluted stormwater runoff will be captured and cleaned each year by this underground treatment and research facility near St. Anthony Village. The $1.6 million project is projected to cut pollution levels by more than half for stormwater runoff flowing from the southern half of the city into the Mississippi River, and will provide new insights about which treatment methods are most effective.

The system uses a combination of technologies to remove an estimated annual average of 39 tons (63 percent) of sediment and 176 pounds (47 percent) of phosphorus. The primary treatment method consists of chambers and flow controls that trap, settle and remove pollutants from stormwater runoff. Two separate filtration devices remove additional pollutants in the secondary treatment system, which has been designed to allow researchers to easily plug in new and emerging treatment technologies to test their effectiveness. Monitoring equipment will test the water quality of the runoff when it enters the facility and again when it exits the various treatment chambers.

The facility will treat an area that covers approximately 600 heavily urbanized acres. Runoff from the area flows through Minneapolis and discharges into the river.