CWL Grant - Stream
Monitoring Project
The
Elm Creek Watershed Management Commission and Three Rivers Park District (TRPD)
have identified several streams and lakes with significant water quality issues
due to rapid urbanization in the watershed.
The Elm Creek watershed covers 83,600 acres in northern Hennepin County,
extending from the headwaters in Medina to the
junction with the Mississippi River in
Champlin. The drainage system includes
three streams: Elm Creek, Rush Creek,
and Diamond Creek.
The
watershed contains several important natural features that include: Elm Creek Park Reserve, Fish Lake Regional Park,
and Crow Hassan Park Reserve. Diamond Creek flows through Taylor’s
Woods, which is a remnant of the “Big Woods” area of central Minnesota.
These park reserves and regional parks provide essential nesting habitat
for rare species, such as Trumpeter swan, bald eagle, Blandings turtle, Sandhill
crane, and osprey. Continued degradation
of the streams will have a direct effect on these species and on the natural
resource value of the parks.
In
2004, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency identified Elm Creek and Rush Creek
as “impaired” for aquatic life. The
channel study undertaken by the Commission and TRPF also determined extreme
stream degradation along the entire length of Elm, Rush and Diamond Creeks. In response to these issues, the Commission
partnered with TRPD to implement a monitoring program along these three streams
and six lakes in the watershed. The
program is funded by a Clean Water Legacy Act-Surface Water Assessment
grant. The objective of the project is
to identify major pollutant sources causing aquatic life impairments in the
creeks and tributaries. (Currently there
is no historical baseline data for Diamond Creek so data is being collected to
determine if this creek is also impaired.)
Monitoring
program data will allow the Commission to update rules to guide development in
compliance with its approved “second generation” Watershed Management
Plan. The Commission will also be able to
assess the effectiveness of “second generation” plan rules to reduce impact on
aquatic life and reduce pollutant transport.
With this data the Commission will be able to begin development of
strategies to complete the TMDL analysis of the stream network in the
watershed.
The
first year’s monitoring took place from July through November of 2007. TRPD staff and volunteers monitored ten sites
along Diamond Creek, Rush
Creek and Elm Creek to
measure dissolved oxygen, bacteria levels, invertebrate populations, and
pollutant transport (phosphorus, nitrogen, chloride and sediment). TRPD monitored five of these ten sites with
automated samplers. In addition, Weaver,
Fish and Diamond Lakes were monitored by TRPD for
nutrients, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and pH. Citizen-Assisted Monitoring Program (CAMP)
volunteers monitored Cowley, Henry and Rice Lakes for total phosphorus, total
nitrogen, chlorophyll-a, surface
temperature, and water transparency.
The
2007 Elm, Rush, and Diamond Creeks Stream Monitoring Project Report can be
viewed by clicking here.
