Water Quality, Spring 2009

As I write this update, April is being April in Minnesota. One great day followed by a couple of days best forgotten. But it won’t be long now before the fun at the lake gets rolling. Last year I got back to kayaking around the lake at least once a week. Good exercise and a great way to really see how things are going. I have to say I’m really impressed. Many of you have really gotten into protecting the lake shore. I saw a bunch of new filter beds between the lawns and the water. It’s really great to see so many of you doing something to help the lake. Of course we have a few new people and some hold-outs still but we can only hope they’ll come around. One area I was particularly impressed with was Bay Park. I think just about everyone in that bay has a grassy strip by the lake to filter the run off. Maybe we should give a blue ribbon for the area doing the best job to protect the lakeshore. Bay Park would get the prize last year.

As far as water quality goes, our measurements indicated clarity stayed good almost all year in what was a much more normal rainfall year. Since this is the third year in a row for good clarity readings, I’m optimistic we may be making some real progress. The result of a lot of folks doing their part seems to be paying off. We also saw slightly reduced phosphates in the lake water which is an indicator the quantity of harmful nutrients entering the lake from runoff and failing septic systems was down a bit. It’s too early to say this is a trend but it breaks the string of four years of higher levels. The lake stewards also found no Eurasian milfoil last fall so we dodged that bullet for another year. I have to say that paddling around I thought the submerged vegetation didn’t seem quite as bad as the last couple of years either. I’ll be interested in hearing from any of you at the Spring meeting how you saw things in your area last year.

Of course there are still things to be done. There are a couple of streams that are contributing more than their share of tannin stained water and phosphates to the bays they enter. We hope to document just how harmful this flow is to the water quality so we can go to “the powers that be” for some remedial help on these streams. Last year we started monitoring water quality of two streams as they enter the lake as part of the MPCA stream monitoring program. This stream in-flow has proven to be a difficult problem to handle as these small streams seem to be of no interested to any governmental agency but appear to have a big impact on our lake. There appears to be some talk on the state level of forming water districts using money from the new environmental fund. Perhaps improving these streams would fall under their umbrella.

See you at the June meeting.

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When having a gathering at your home, instead of maxing out your septic by doing all the extra washing.  Why not take the washing to the Laundromat and for pennies per pound they will wash, dry and fold the items for you.

 

News releases from the past:
Notes from the President 2006
Notes from the President 2007
Steeling on Cedar 2007
Notes from the President 2008

Other Items of Interest:

Executive Summary of the Lake Survey, 2005

Cedar Lake Conservancy Work Plan 2006-2007

Volunteer Manual