Cannon River Watershed
Overview
Watershed at-a-glance
The Cannon River watershed is located south of the Twin Cities and encompasses areas of Dakota, Goodhue, Le Sueur, Steele, Rice, and Waseca Counties. The watershed drains approximately 1,460 square miles through two main channels, the Cannon and Straight Rivers, to the Mississippi at Red Wing.
| Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) | 07040002 | [More Info] |
| Intensive monitoring start year | xxxx | [More Info] |
| Major lakes | Major rivers and streams |
|---|---|
|
Byllesby, Jefferson, Tetonka, Cannon |
Cannon, Straight, Little Cannon River, Trout Brook, Rice Creek |
Characteristics
The Cannon River watershed represents a transition between the driftless terrain of the southeast Minnesota and the glaciated lands of south-central Minnesota. It includes 90 lakes and 107 wetlands of 10 acres or more in size. More than 70% of the land area is in cultivation. Historic land use is prairie and deciduous woodland.
What's being done
The MPCA is planning to work with local partners to:
- Complete a watershed management strategy (project underway, to be completed in June 2011)
- Finalize a study of the Straight River watershed, which includes an examination of the stream and river channels in that watershed, and construction of a model for use in future implementation planning work (this project ends in June 2011)
- Finalize Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) studies for Lake Volney and the Jefferson-German chain of lakes (to be completed in 2011)
- Initiate intensive watershed monitoring in 2011
- MPCA and partners have completed planning and will execute field work this year
- Initiate a resource investigation project focusing on Rice Creek – a small trout stream in Rice County (this project is just underway, funded by Clean Water Partnership grant)
MPCA's watershed approach: Since 2007, the MPCA and its partners have begun implementing a 10-year rotation for watershed restoration plans to address Minnesota's waters at the major watershed level.
[+] See large map
Watershed News
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Reaping benefits
Mike Peterson, who farms in the Cannon River watershed near Northfield, is using conservation practices to protect his soil and waters downstream. See his story: “Farmer reaps benefits from conservation” in MPCA’s Minnesota water stories pages.
On-farm research
Northfield farmer David Legvold is using on-farm research to fine-tune his nitrogen applications to increase his profitability while reducing the impact on water downstream. See his story, “Results that count for profits, water quality,” in MPCA’s Minnesota water stories pages.
More watershed news
For all the latest news on the Cannon River watershed, go to the Cannon River Watershed Partnership website.
Restoration and protection
The restoration and protection process
The MPCA and partner organizations evaluate water conditions, establish improvement goals and priorities, and take actions designed to restore or protect water quality on a 10-year cycle.
Monitoring and assessment
Projects in this watershed to test water quality conditions and determine whether our lakes, rivers, and wetlands are meeting state water quality standards. [More info]
| Project Name | Status |
|---|---|
| Cannon River Watershed Lake & Stream Assessement |
|
| Cannon River Watershed Monitoring |
|
| Citizen Sediment Monitoring Coordinator for TMDLs |
|
| Goodhue County Water Quality Monitoring |
|
| Gorman & Sabre Lakes Indepth Assessment |
|
| Lower Mississippi River Basin Long Term Monitoring |
|
| MPCA Intensive Watershed Monitoring Cannon R WS |
|
| Nitrate Data Tabulation and Lit Review |
|
| North Cannon Watershed Monitoring |
|
| Rice County Water Resource Division Surface Assmt |
|
| Rice County Water Resource Division Surface Water |
|
| Rice Creek Assessment Project |
|
| S.E. MN Volunteer Nitrate Monitoring Network |
|
| Sediment Work for LMB TMDL Support |
|
| Upper Cannon Assessment Project |
|
| Volunteer Nitrate Monitoring Network |
|
Data available for this watershed
Lakes and stream segments with condition and monitoring information
Lakes and streams are divided into "assessment units" for monitoring.
Impairments in this watershed listed by lake or stream segment
Generally, a waterbody has an impairment when it exceeds a particular pollutant standard.
Strategy development projects
Projects in this watershed that establish federal- or state-required plans for restoring water quality for impaired waters, or protecting high-quality waters. [More info]
| Project Name | Status |
|---|---|
| Byllesby Reservoir Phosphorous TMDL Project |
|
| Cannon River Major Watershed WRAP Strategy |
|
| Lower Cannon River Turbidity TMDL |
|
| Lower Mississippi River Basin-Fecal Coliform TMDL |
|
| Mercury Pollutant Reduction Plan |
|
| North Cannon River Watershed Management Organization WRAP Strategy |
|
| Straight River Turbidity TMDLs |
|
| Upper Cannon Lakes Excess Nutrients TMDL Project |
|
Implementation activities
Projects in this watershed to put water restoration or protection measures in place, ranging from best management practices to reduce runoff from fields or streets, to fixes to wastewater treatment facilities, to education activities for citizens and landowners. Implementation projects are supported by local, state and federal government sources, including Minnesota's new Clean Water Fund.
Our partners in the watershed are continually involved in these kinds of activities. See Contacts tab.
| Project Name | Status |
|---|---|
| Cannon River Wastewater - Building Local Capacity |
|
| Chloride Winter Maintenance Trng & Certification |
|
| Dakota County NPS Reduction |
|
| Fecal Coliform Bacteria TMDL Implementation |
|
| Feedlot Fixes Cost-share Incentives |
|
| Feedlot Open Lot Implementation Engineer Assist |
|
| Jefferson/German Lakes WQ Improvement Continuation |
|
| Livestock Management Improvements Riparian Areas |
|
| Lower Cannon River Turbidity Reduction Project |
|
| Lower Miss/Cedar River Unsewered Assist |
|
| Lower Mississippi Basin SE MN Wastewater Initative |
|
| Lower Mississippi Feedlot Runoff Control |
|
| North Cannon River Bacteria Reduction Project |
|
| Southeast Regional Grant for Water Quality SE |
|
| Straight River Fecal Coliform Reduction |
|
| Sustaining Progress Toward Reducing Runoff |
|
Water data tools
Search for your lake or stream's assessment data
See information about your local lake or stream.
DNR Lake Finder
Find information about 4500+ lakes, rivers, and streams
Search MPCA surface water data
Use this tool for accessing and comparing data in all surface waters.
Maps
Watershed Map
Many of Minnesota’s lakes and streams do not currently meet water-quality standards because of pollution such as excess sediment or nutrients, bacteria or mercury. These waters are considered “impaired.” For more information, visit the impaired waters page.
The toggles show impaired waters and monitoring stations. Click on a site for more information.
Impairments in this watershed, listed by lake or stream segment
Generally, a waterbody has an impairment when it exceeds a particular pollutant standard.
Twin Cities Metro Watersheds
Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Watersheds
The seven-county TCMA includes the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington. The TCMA watersheds also contain the area covered by the Metropolitan Area Surface Water Management Act (Minnesota Statutes 103B.201 to 255), which requires local units of government in the seven-county TCMA to prepare and implement comprehensive surface water management plans through membership in a watershed management organization (WMO). WMOs can be organized in three ways:
- as a joint powers agreement between the cities and townships within the watershed.
- as a watershed district.
- as a function of county government.
Most WMOs boundaries are hydrologically defined, and are at the 10- or 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC) sub-watershed level. Some WMO boundaries are politically determined rather than hydrologically determined.
Projects may involve small portions of local or watershed plans such as neighborhood stormwater projects, be city- or watershed-wide projects to deal with identified impairments, or be regional or basin-wide projects dealing with problems such as chloride runoff in the TCMA watersheds from highway road salt or basin-wide runoff of nutrients affecting Lake St. Croix.
Additional information is also available on the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Watersheds page.
