Pope County Sub Watershed Water and Sediment Control Basin Project

This project will work to install 30 water and sediment control basins (WaSCOBs) in three subwatersheds adjacent to Lake Minnewaska to reduce the amount of total phosphorus (TP) entering Pelican Lake, Lake Minnewaska, and Lake Emily. Pelican Lake and Lake Emily have been identified in an 8 lake Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study conducted in Pope County as being impaired for excess nutrients.

Utilizing water and sediment control basins has been identified in both the TMDL implementation plan and the Pope County Water Plan as a method for lowering the annual load. Based on averages calculated from past WaSCOBs in the West Central area, these basins have the potential to reduce the phosphorus load by 600 pounds between the targeted subwatersheds. This will result in an 8% TP reduction of the 35% needed to delist Lake Emily, and 32% TP of the 35% needed to delist Pelican Lake from the MPCA 303d impaired waters list. Lake Minnewaska has a protected status. This spring, rain events caused severe gully erosions on the south side of Lake Minnewaska. Water quality trends for Lake Minnewaska are improving and by implementing these targeted projects, the trends should continue to improve and not decline.