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)
Not currently accepting research proposals. Funding announcements and RFPs will be available on the WRC funding opportunities page.
2026 Annual Meeting
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Annual Meeting Video (Kaltura) - Skip ahead to project updates by hovering over the time lapse bar.
Meeting Highlights:
- MSRC programmatic updates
- Research Updates: Discover the momentum behind 11 active projects listed below
Meeting Agenda:
- 9 - 9:45 MSRC Administrative updates including the Annual Report, inaugural MN Pond Research and Practice Symposium, 2027 Advisory Board Nominations, financial update, RFP evaluation
- 9:45 - 10 Ben Janke, Effective impervious and BMP effectiveness at watershed scale
- 10 - 10:15 Doug Klimbal, Improving snow storage performance
- 10:15 - 10:30 Doug Klimbal, Analysis of winter hazard and high salt areas
- 10:45 - 11 John Gulliver, Alternative stormwater sand filter enhancing agents for dissolved phosphorus retention
- 11 - 11:15 Andy Erickson, Bioretention media for supporting plant growth and limiting nutrient export
- 11:15 - 11:30 Nigel Pickering, A systematic evaluation of fungal enhanced treatment of stormwater pollutants in biofiltration systems
- 11:30 - 11:45 Bridget Ulrich, Performance evaluation for a stormwater treatment train with augmented biofiltration
- 12:45 - 1 Jacques Finlay, Identifying stormwater pond design and management features that sustain long term performance
- 1 - 1:15 John Gulliver, Aeration/mixing as a remediation option for stormwater pond phosphorus release
- 1:15 - 1:30 Poornima Natarajan, Can earthworms reduce PAH concentrations in pond sediments: A feasibility study
- 1:30 - 1:45 John Chapman, Stormwater pond forebay design, cost, and effectiveness compared to other pretreatment options