Addressing the Challenge of Water-Soluble Emerging Contaminants in Green Stormwater Infrastructure





Minnesota Pollution Control Agency [ [link removed] ]




Upcoming event





Minnesota Stormwater Seminar Series

Addressing the Challenge of Water-Soluble Emerging Contaminants in Green Stormwater Infrastructure





Please join us in person or online on December 18, 2025 at 10:00 am for the next Minnesota Stormwater Seminar Series event - a monthly experience featuring national, state, and local experts on stormwater and green infrastructure.

*Speakers: *


* Keynote Presenter: Greg LeFevre, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa
* Panelist: Bill Arnold, Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering, U of MN.
* Panelist: Justine Dauphinais, Water Quality Coordinator for the Coon Creek Watershed District.
* Panelist: Richard Kiesling, formerly of the U.S. Geological Survey.

*Abstract: *

Water-soluble contaminants present a wicked challenge for green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), which have been historically designed for particles and particle-associated contaminants. Soluble nutrients (e.g., nitrate, dissolved phosphorus) and hydrophilic trace organic contaminants (e.g., pesticides, vehicular compounds, building biocides) cannot be conventionally filtered and poorly sorb to conventional bioretention media, thereby presenting a risk to receiving waters if these contaminants pass through. There is thus a critical need to understand the fate of soluble contaminants in green stormwater infrastructure and improve sustained removal processes through innovations in GSI geomedia. We contend that synergizing innovative sorptive materials with biological processes is key to capturing contaminants during storm events and subsequently biodegrading contaminants during antecedent dry periods. In this work, I will describe our team’s research developing novel GSI geomedia with encapsulated sorptive materials and biodegrading microbes (bacteria, fungi) to capture and treat soluble contaminants. Additionally, we probe plant uptake and transformation processes for trace organic contaminants in GSI. New and ongoing research characterizes complex contaminant mixtures using non-target analysis for organic contaminant mixture evolution through green infrastructure. Finally, I will present a forthcoming tiered conceptual framework to consider GSI intervention prioritization for soluble, hydrophilic contaminants

*Date and Time*: Thursday, December 18, 2025, 10a - 12p US Central

*In-person:* St. Anthony Falls Laboratory Auditorium (2 Third Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN [ [link removed] ])

*Online: *[link removed] [ [link removed] ] (active 10 minutes prior)

*Registration: *Click here to Register [ [link removed] ]

This seminar series is a partnership between the University of Minnesota's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory [ [link removed] ] and Water Resources Center [ [link removed] ], and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency [ [link removed] ], and made possible through the Minnesota Stormwater Research and Technology Transfer Program in collaboration with the Minnesota Stormwater Research Council [ [link removed] ].






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