Minnesota's Impaired Waters and TMDLs

TMDL Project: Medicine Lake - Excessive Nutrients

Background

Medicine Lake and most of its watershed are located within the city limits of Plymouth and is surrounded by a mix of private lakeshore lots and parkland. The lake has a surface area of 902 acres, a maximum depth of 49 feet, and an estimated mean depth of 17.5 feet. In addition to Plymouth, the city of Medicine Lake and portions of Golden Valley, New Hope, and Minnetonka constitute the remaining watershed area. The Medicine Lake watershed is essentially fully developed and has a total area of 11,613 acres (including lake surface area). Runoff from the watershed enters the lake from creeks, storm sewer outfalls, and culverts at various points along the lakeshore. Stormwater from approximately 86% of the Medicine Lake watershed currently drains through some form of wet detention before it enters Medicine Lake.

In 2004, Medicine Lake was placed on the MPCA’s impaired waters list as the available data indicated that Medicine Lake exceeded the state’s narrative criteria for nutrients (based on total phosphorus, chlorophyll-a and Secchi disc transparency) for the growing season mean. Similarly, Medicine Lake has typically not met the BCWMC water quality goals. Medicine Lake will continue to be affected by the problems that occur when a lake’s watershed has become urbanized. The increased volume and pollutant levels of stormwater runoff from the watershed, combined with internal sources of phosphorus, result in periods of poor lake water quality. A reduction in the phosphorus concentration in the lake is necessary to improve or maintain water transparency and reduce algal blooms. The MPCA is partnering with Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission (BCWMC) and Three Rivers Park District (TRPD) to develop the work products necessary to complete a TMDL and implementation plan for Medicine Lake.

Map and location

Medicine Lake is located in Hennepin County, in the Mississippi River - Twin Cities watershed in the Upper Mississippi River basin.

• Map of Medicine Lake

TMDL report and implementation plan

• Fact Sheet (wq-iw8-19a)
• Final TMDL (wq-iw8-19e)
• EPA Approval Letter (February 8, 2011) (wq-iw8-19g)
• TMDL Implementation Plan (February 8, 2011) (wq-iw8-19c)

Other documents

Project work products

• Medicine Lake TMDL Final Work Plan
• Medicine Lake TMDL Final Project Timeline
• Newsletters

Previous reports/plans for Medicine Lake

• Three Rivers Park District - Medicine Lake Endothall Treatment to Control Curlyleaf Pondweed 2004-2007 
• City of Plymouth - EAW for Plymouth Creek Water Quality Ponds (file size = 6 MB)
• City of Plymouth - Curlyleaf Pondweed Density in Medicine Lake 2007
• BCWMC - 2006 Medicine Lake Water Quality Study
• BCWMC - A Biotic Index Evaluation of Bassett Creek and Plymouth Creek: 2006
• City of Plymouth - Medicine Lake Curlyleaf Pondweed Control Project Feasibility Report
• Three Rivers Park District - City of Plymouth Water Quality Monitoring 2004
• City of Plymouth - Phase II Medicine Lake Watershed Implementation and Management Plan
• City of Plymouth - Medicine Lake Water Quality Ponds Feasibility Report Expansion
• City of Plymouth - Medicine Lake Water Quality Ponds Feasibility Report
• Three Rivers Park District - City of Plymouth Water Quality Monitoring 2003 
• Three Rivers Park District - City of Plymouth Water Quality Monitoring 2002
• BCWMC - 2000 and 2001 Water Quality Study (text-only)
• City of Plymouth - Medicine Lake Watershed Implementation and Management Plan
• BCWMW -Medicine Lake Watershed and Lake Management Plan - Volume I (file size = 8 MB)
• BCWMC - Medicine Lake Watershed and Lake Management Plan - Volume II (file size = 11 MB)

Meetings and events

• Medicine Lake TMDL Steering Committee Member List
• Medicine Lake TMDL Steering Committee Meeting Topics & Dates
  
  
• October 29, 2009, Public Notice Meeting  - Plymouth
  
  
• October 22, 2009, Steering Committee Meeting #7 - Maple Grove
  • This is the final steering committee meeting - review the draft TMDL

• August 27, 2009, Steering Committee Meeting #6 -  Plymouth
  • Presentations:
    • Watershed Modeling Update - Hans Holmberg, LimnoTech
  • Meeting Minutes

• July 30, 2009, Steering Committee Meeting #6 -  Plymouth
  • Meeting Cancelled
  • Pre-meeting background materials:
    • Internal Load and TMDL Equation Clarification
    • P8 Modeling Summary Memo (6/12/09)
      
      
• May 14, 2009, Steering Committee Meeting #5 -  Plymouth
  • Agenda
  • Decision Criteria Worksheet: Allocations
  • Pre-meeting background materials:
    • City of Plymouth - Phase II Medicine Lake Watershed Implementation and Management Plan
    • Protecting Water Quality in Urban Areas Manual - chapter 2
    • Minnesota Stormwater Manual - chapters 6 and 7
    • Optional reading material - Assessment of Stormwater BMPs Manual (this may be a useful site to visit to learn more about how various BMPs actually function and how easily their effectiveness may be monitored or observed)
  • Presentations:
    • Watershed Modeling Update - Hans Holmberg, LimnoTech
    • BATHTUB Modeling Update - Brian Vlach, TRPD
    • Wasteload Allocation Options - Chris Zadak, MPCA
    • WLA and BMP Decision Criteria - Brian Ross, CR Planning
  • Meeting Minutes
    
    
• April 9, 2009, Steering Committee Meeting #4 - Plymouth
  • Agenda
  • Decision Criteria Worksheet: Allocations
  • Pre-meeting background materials
    • MPCA Policy for Setting Wasteload Allocations for Regulated Stormwater (this is a short memo summary from the next document below)
    • Technical Guidance Used by MPCA to Develop Policies for Setting TMDL WLAs
    • EPA Allocations: Defintion and Options (just review the website, no need to go further into the case study unless you are so inclinded of course)
  • Presentations:
    • Watershed Modeling Update - Hans Holmberg, LimnoTech
    • In-Lake Modeling Update - Randy Lehr, TRPD
    • Allocating the TMDL - John Erdmann, MPCA
  • Meeting Minutes
    
    
• March 12, 2009, Steering Committee Meeting #3 - Plymouth
  • Agenda
  • Pre-meeting background materials
    • Lake Nutrient TMDL Protocol, Pages 10-35
  • Presentations:
    • Review of the TMDL equation and allocation process - Brooke Asleson, MPCA
    • BATHTUB Modeling Results - Brian Vlach, TRPD
    • Watershed Modeling update - Hans Holmberg, LimnoTech
    • Decision Criteria development - Brian Ross, CR Planning
  • Meeting Minutes
    
    
• January 8, 2009, Steering Committee Meeting #2 - Plymouth
  • Agenda
  • Pre-meeting background materials:
    • Chapter 8 of the Protecting Water Quality in Urban Areas Manual
    • EPA training module - watershed modeling
  • Presentations:
    • Introduction and Decision Criteria Development- Brian Ross, CR Planning
    • Modeling Overview - Hans Holmberg, LimnoTech
  • Meeting Minutes
    
    
• November 18, 2008, Steering Committee Meeting #1 - Plymouth
  • Agenda
  • Presentations:
    • Introduction and Medicine Lake TMDL Steering Committee Process- Brian Ross, CR Planning
    • Medicine Lake Excess Nutrients TMDL Project Overview - Brooke Asleson, MPCA
    • Water Quality Standards - Brooke Asleson, MPCA
    • Medicine Lake In-Lake and Watershed Monitoring Data Review - Brian Vlach and John Barten, Three Rivers Park District
  • Meeting Minutes
    
    
• October 8, 2008, Project Kickoff Meeting - Plymouth 
  • Invitation flyer
  • Agenda
  • Presentations:
    • Medicine Lake Excess Nutrients TMDL Overview - Brooke Asleson, MPCA
    • Medicine Lake Management History - John Barten, Three Rivers Park District
    • Medicine Lake BMPs - Derek Asche, City of Plymouth
  • Meeting Minutes

See the TMDL Meetings, Events and News page for notices of general interest and event-related information on impaired waters/TMDLs.

Links

• Association of Medicine Lake Area Citizens
• Basins in Minnesota
• Bassett Creek Watershed Management Organization
• DNR Lake Finder
• Lake Access (sponsored by EPA)
• Medicine Lake EDA site
• Plymouth Creek EDA site
• Three Rivers Park District

Information contact

Brooke Asleson
Regional Division-Watershed Section
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
520 Lafayette Road North
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155
651-757-2205
Brooke.Asleson@state.mn.us