  |
||
| Skip navigation Home | Site Index | Glossary | What's New | Ask MPCA | Visitor Center | |
Minnesota's Impaired Waters and TMDLs Assessment and Listing: TMDL Projects: Project Resources: References: Related Pages: Stormwater Programs and Impaired Waters Environmental Data Access for Water Quality 
 This Web site contains PDF documents that require Adobe Acrobat for viewing. | |
 Minnesota's Impaired Waters and TMDLsProject: Lake Crystal Excess Nutrients TMDLBackground
Crystal Lake, a portion of the Crystal, Loon, and Mills lake watershed, was listed on the 303d impaired waters list for excess nutrients in 2006. This listing was the result of previous monitoring data, investigative projects and local support following toxic blue-green algae blooms in the fall of 2004. Minnesota Pollution Control (MPCA) staff reported a concentration of microcystin, a blue-green algae toxin at 7190 ug/L. The acceptable exposure levels based on the World Health Organizations is 1.0ug/L. Crystal Lake is 355 acres with a contributing watershed of 15,900 acres. Based on the 1990 land use inventory, approximately 77% of the watershed is used for agriculture. This watershed has significant local importance, as it is a popular recreational area and also contains the City of Lake Crystal. Crystal Lake receives surface water from two primary sources, County Ditch 56 and the outlet of Loon Lake. The study found County Ditch 56 to be a major contributor of nutrients and sediment to Crystal Lake. Ditch 56 drains agricultural land to the southwest of Crystal Lake and a portion of the City of Lake Crystal before discharging into the lake. The TMDL program provides a cooperative approach where MPCA can assist the Water Resources Center at Mankato and the City of Lake Crystal in upgrading data collection, analysis and TMDL development operations. This project will also work in conjunction with the current Clean Water Partnership which is actively working towards reducing nutrient input from various areas of the watershed. The work plan for the TMDL has been completed, with ongoing monitoring continuing though 2009. Citizens within the area are invited to upcoming meetings to discuss the project and future work to be done. A citizen stakeholder group is still being developed. Map and LocationLake Crystal is part of the Crystal Loon Mills watershed. Crystal Loon Mills watershed is located in Blue Earth County within the Minnesota River basin.
TMDL Report and Implementation Plan
Other DocumentsFactsheets:
Meetings and Events
See the TMDL Meetings, Events and News page for notices of general interest and event-related information on impaired waters/TMDLs. Links
Information ContactPaul Davis, Project Manager Sarah Shimek Duda Scott Bohling |
|
| This page was last updated April 9, 2009 If you have suggestions on how we can
improve this site, or if you have questions or problems, please contact
us. |
|||
Map
of Lake Crystal within the Minnesota River Basin