Erosion from streambanks and fields along the Clearwater River add sediment, nutrients and organic material to this important tributary of the Red River of the North. Turbidity impairments caused by those sediments contribute to several environmental and economic problems including interfering with spawning habitat critical to Lake Sturgeon recovery in the Red River Watershed and increasing drinking water treatment costs for the city of East Grand Forks.
This project will complete the dataset necessary for assessment of water quality on Brooks Creek, Black River, Lost River, Poplar River, and Hill River. By monitoring these five sites, Red Lake County SWCD will have collected baseline information on all of the Streams/Creeks in Red Lake County.
A partnership of local agencies and organizations will monitor water quality at eighteen carefully chosen sites within the Red Lake River and Grand Marais Creek watersheds. Fourteen monitoring sites have been chosen within the Red Lake River watershed. Four sites have been chosen in the Grand Marais Creek watershed. Each of these sites will provide a representative assessment of the water quality conditions within one or more minor subwatersheds at the 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) level.
