The Minnesota Stormwater Research Council (MSRC) is an organization of stormwater professionals, practitioners, managers, engineers, researchers and others that seeks to facilitate and complete research on urban stormwater management and transfer that knowledge to professionals that can use it to prevent, minimize and mitigate the impacts of runoff. The MSRC is administered by the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center (WRC).
Established in 2016, the goals of the MSRC include:
- Facilitate the completion of needed applied research that enables more informed decisions about the use, management and protection of our water resources in urbanized areas.
- Periodically assess the status of research, identify consensus research priorities, and communicate these to Minnesota’s public and private research agencies and organizations.
- Promote coordination of research goals, objectives and funding among the research agencies and organizations.
Financial support
Financial support for the Council is provided by member cities, watershed districts and organizations, and private businesses. Additional support is provided through the Clean Water Fund from the State of Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center, Minnesota Sea Grant, the College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences, and the National Institutes for Water Resources funded by the US Geological Survey.
The Council in partnership with the Water Resources Center, invests financial resources in research that results in discoveries that help Minnesota professionals, practitioners, and policymakers across cities, watersheds, counties, and private businesses to –
- Evaluate and design more effective stormwater practices
- Manage urban runoff to prevent or reduce impacts to lakes, streams, rivers, and groundwater
- Maintain investments in stormwater infrastructure for continued effective operation
- Incorporate strategies to improve resilience of stormwater infrastructure
Join the growing list of watersheds, cities, and private businesses that are supporting this work on an annual basis. Use the online form to indicate your organization’s financial support or contact the Council by email at [email protected]
Request for Proposals (RFP)
Currently accepting research proposals on urban stormwater ponds. The full RFP can be found on our funding opportunities page.
Annual meeting and other resources
Date: July 17, 2025
Time: 9 am - 3pm
Location: Bell Museum, St. Paul Campus, University of Minnesota
Registration is REQUIRED and LIMITED. Please let us know immediately if you need to cancel your registration.
Featuring:
- Bus tour to research supported field sites
- Annual business meeting including
- Highlights of the efforts over the past year
- Launch of 10 new stormwater research projects
- Nominations for advisory board members for 2026
- Research funding support - reaching a goal of $250K in 2025
- Stormwater pond research symposium input. Provide ideas to help plan a multiday pond research conference to be offered next winter.
- Lunch, refreshments, ice cream social, and networking
Field tour
The field tour portion will focus on the Council’s investments and research studies on stormwater ponds and iron enhanced sand filters (IESF.) The tour will include three locations: Bell Museum pond (St. Paul UofMN Campus), Silver Lake Park Park IESF & pond (Columbia Heights), and the Camden pond (North Minneapolis.) The tour will begin promptly at 9:00 (registration at 8:45am) and conclude at 12:00pm. Participants will be required to register and participate in the entire tour via coach bus.
Annual business meeting only (1:00-2:00pm) - virtual participation option
You may register to only participate in the annual business meeting portion from 1:00 - 2:00pm virtually (by Zoom.) This option would allow you to join to hear the highlights of the council over the past year, announcement of the recently ten new research projects getting underway, participate in the nominations for advisory board members for 2026, and help us reach our funding goal of $250K. Note, the stormwater pond research symposium input roundtable discussion will not have a virtual participation option.
Date: July 18, 2024
Annual Meeting presentation (.pdf)
Meeting recording: