Positively impacting the region

Alumna keeps waterways clean from the helm of WLSSD.

When Marianne Bohren (‘85, MBA ‘04) was young, she remembers riding in her parent’s car over the Scanlon Bridge and looking down at the St. Louis River below. It was not the recovering waterway it is now.

Back then, she said, “no one hung out around the St. Louis River or fished.”  

a woman in a hardhat and reflective vest poses in an industrial area

Image: Marianne Bohren, Executive Director of WLSSD, stands in front of several 160 foot diameter settling tanks at the 27th Avenue West wastewater treatment facility.

Her childhood memory is of a river that’s hard to recognize. At that time, the St. Louis was one of the largest Areas of Concern in the country, a huge watershed impacted by a history of unmitigated and unregulated residential and industrial waste. “All of the industries, the municipalities, all just dumped directly into the St. Louis River. And so when you drove over the bridge, you didn't see water. All you saw was foam,” said Bohren. At the time, the nearby pulp/paper mill used a sulfite process, which had a red liquor that ended up in the river. “It was a gray foam, and where it split, you could see a blood red.”

A lot has changed since then. Bohren now serves as the Executive Director of the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD), where she’s continuing a legacy working to keep our waterways and communities clean. Bohren's interest in the organization began when she saw it begin to restore the St. Louis River.

“When WLSSD started–created by state statute in the early 1970s, accepting the first flow in September of 1978–it only took two years and the river had already recovered to the point that it was fishable, and people were recreating again,” said Bohren.

She had witnessed the power of stewardship, and when it came time for her own shift after 17 years as a chemist for a large paper company, she set her sights on working at WLSSD. “If you're going to make a mid-career change,” Bohren said, “it's nice to pick something that really feels like you're making a substantial difference.”

a woman in a hardhat and reflective vest walks through an industrial area

Image: Bohren tours the wastewater treatment facility where materials from both municipalities as well as industrial clients are processed.

At that same time, she decided to return to school to get her MBA. She’d spent nearly two decades in industry and business, and wanted to expand her capabilities through an advanced degree. As her alma mater, the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) felt like the logical choice, and the fact that the program at the Labovitz School of Business and Economics was accredited sealed the deal. She received her MBA in 2004 with a focus in organizational development. That same year, she started at WLSSD in Human Resources. Over the course of the next ten years, she grew into the organization, becoming Executive Director in 2008, a role she’s continued since.

From that helm, she guides the strategic direction of the organization.

industrial waste barrels leaking into water

Image: The St. Louis River was one of the largest Areas of Concern in the country, a huge watershed impacted by a history of unmitigated and unregulated residential and industrial waste. Submitted.

For Bohren, it’s been exciting to see how the appreciation for clean water has evolved. “WLSSD was created thanks to funding provided by the Clean Water Act. It was common for wastewater and other wastes to be disposed of into our lakes and rivers up to the 1970s,” she said. “As a result, the nation’s water bodies were in trouble.”

Over the years, WLSSD has made a tremendous impact, and they’ve adapted to the changing needs of the region. From solid waste management and wastewater treatment, to clean energy, recycling of materials, community education, reusing nitrogen and phosphorus for agriculture, and helping individuals properly manage hazardous materials and products that they have in their homes, “it's all part of this overall mission of protecting the St. Louis River and being environmentally responsible.”

For Bohren, personally, that mission was made possible through the solid foundation she received at UMD. “I got a great education that I truly appreciate. Both the science and the business programs have really served me very well.”

 

Header image: Marianne Bohren at the WLSSD water treatment plant. Bohren is a two time University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) alumna with both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree.