Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Rice Creek Board of Managers meeting regarding Alum treatment

From Tom Weyandt

The Rice Creek Watershed District Board of Managers held the public hearing on the Bald Eagle Lake alum treatment on October 9.   No members of the public made comment at the meeting.

Manager John Weller asked about the accuracy of the report that 14% of the phosphorus load in the lake comes from Judicial Ditch #1. He pointed out that several years ago work was done to reduce that number by installing collection ponds on the east side of Highway 61 near Buffalo Street. RCWD staff member Matt Kocian agreed that the 14% number was based on data from prior to the work on the ponds and that it is likely that the actual number is now lower. He was not able to give a revised estimate of the percentage of phosphorus that comes from JD#1.

Manager Weller also expressed concern that grass clippings and leaf litter from homes within the watershed were a contributor of phosphorus and yet little was said about dealing with that problem. Mr. Weller said that few people seem to understand what can be done to limit that material from entering the watershed. Staff member Jessica Bromelkamp said that there were some changes to the RCWD website dealing with the problem. She also said that she had prepared some informational pieces that she hoped would be published in local newspapers soon.

Carp and the impact on the long term success of the alum treatment was also brought up. Mr. Kocian explained that carp action is mainly in shallow lake areas and that given the depth of Bald Eagle that the carp were not likely to impact the area where the alum will be applied. Some work is being done to study the carp population in the lake but that current data indicates that the carp that are present are larger and less likely to cause significant problems with the alum treatment.

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