Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District

Water Quality Data

Surface water quality data for Crow Wing County can be found at the following sites:

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/data/eda/search.cfm

RMB Environmental Laboratories: http://www.rmbel.info/Reports/ReportsQuery.aspx

A.W. Research Laboratories: http://www.awlab.com/Client.htm

Surface Water Monitoring for the Clean Water Act

Surface Water Assessment Grants: First funded in 2007 by the Minnesota Legislature, Surface Water Assessment Grants (SWAG) provide the SWCD and citizen volunteers with funds to complete the monitoring needed to meet assessment requirements on Minnesota lakes and streams. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) administers the grant program with the goal of monitoring all Minnesota watersheds on a 10-year cycle. The SWCD has monitored 36 lakes and 14 river sites through this program since 2007.

Volunteers use an integrated sampler to take surface water samples on lakes and Secci Disks to get readings of water clarity. They take 3 samples to ensure accuracy. The secci disk is lowered into the water until it is no longer seen, the volunteer then raises it to the point that it reappears and measures the distance between that point and the surface of the water.

All volunteers record data and the information that may be a factor for extreme variations in data. the time the samples were taken, the weather conditions (wind, temperature, and cloud cover), and activities or events in the previous day or even week that may influence the data such as rainfall and recreational activity on the lake. For example, there may be a correlation between high boat activity and one weekend and a large algae bloom the following week.

2007-2008 Lakes Monitored: Camp (18-0018-00), Clearwater (18-0038-00), Crow Wing (18-0155), Arbor/Goose (18-0080),Gull (11-0218), Nisswa (18-0399), Portage (18-0050), Rabbit (18-0093), Ross (18-0165), Shirt Lake (18-0072), Stark (18-0169), White Sand (18-0379), Crooked (18-041-2), Hanks (18-044), Perch (18-371), Portsmouth Mine (18-0437), Roy (18-398), Sugar Bay (18-041-1), West Twin (18-167).

2009-2010 Lakes Monitored: Borden (18-020), Grave (18-0110), Blue (18-0043), Lower Mission (18-0243), Upper Mission (18-0242), Reno (18-0067), and Turner (18-0135).

2009-2010 Streams Monitored: Gull River at 122nd Ave.

2010-2011 Lakes Monitored: Agate (11-0216), Mollie (18-0335), Perch (18-0304), Ray (11-0220), Spider (11-0221), Jail (18-0415), Love (18-0388), Turner, Unnamed Cranberry (18-0433).

2010-2011 Streams Monitored: Gull River (10UM051), Crow Wing River (S001-926), Crow Wing River (S001-176), Swan Creek (10UM049), Blueberry River (00UM025), Daggett Brook (S006-372), Little Pine Creek (S006-294), Hay Creek (S004-381), Hay Creek S006-250), Upper Hay Creek (S004-327).

2011-2012 Lakes Monitored: Little Bass (18-0254).

2011-2012 Streams Monitored: Little Buffalo (Not est.), Casey Brook (S005-458), Cedar Brook (S005-457).

2012-2013 Lakes Monitoring: Anna (18-0213), Bass (18-0358), Blue (18-0211), Duck (18-0314), Hen (18-0270), Lows (18-0180), Pickerel (18-0205).

2012-2013 Streams Monitoring: Daggett Creek (S006-229), Pine River (S000-181), Little Pine River (S006-294).

Serpent Lakeshed Protection Investigation Study

Clean Water Partnership Monitoring: The Serpent Lakeshed Protection Investigation Study is a partnership between the SWCD, Crow Wing County (CWC), Serpent Lake Association, and MPCA to study the water quality and input of nutrients to Serpent Lake.

Serpent Lake is found within the Upper Mississippi River Basin which includes the Mississippi River-Brainerd Major Watershed as one of its sixteen major watersheds. The Serpent Lakeshed has one of highest ratios of urban land use and one of highest ratios of impervious surface to the lakeshed area compared to 415 other lakes in CWC. Furthermore, the Serpent Lake Lakeshed has no county tax forfeited, county, state or federal land within the lakeshed to protect the lakes and rivers from development pressures. This creates a greater need for protection strategies for Serpent Lake.

Volunteers collect Chlorophyll-a Samples Citizen volunteers are monitoring lake chemistry to assess the health of Serpent Lake with the Trophic State Index (TSI). Volunteers are also collecting stormwater samples from outlets to Serpent, samples of flow and stormwater from Peterson Creek, and daily lake water levels to input to a model. Volunteers also collect samples to measure the chemistry of nearby lakes Unnamed Cranberry (18-0504), Unnamed/Peterson (18-0504), and Cascade (18-0061).

The model will be calibrated to the monitoring data collected for this project (2011 and 2012). The model will be used to predict the response of Serpent Lake’s in-lake water quality if subjected to increases and decreases in phosphorus loading to the lake, and to determine the phosphorus load reductions needed for the lake to meet the water quality goals.