This year, four Hennepin County lakes have been removed from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s impaired waters list, including Sweeney Lake in Golden Valley. Barr helped the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission improve water quality of the lake through monitoring and modeling, stakeholder engagement, alum treatment, carp management, curlyleaf pondweed treatment, and follow-up assessments.
“Delisting Sweeney Lake is a big deal,” says Laura Jester, Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission’s administrator, in the article published in Sun Current. “It’s a good example of adaptive management.”
Minnesota lakes often fail to meet state water quality standards due to excessive levels of nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen. In excess, nutrients can lead to uncontrolled algal growth that threatens aquatic life, limits recreation, and detracts from a lake’s public value. Lakes that fail to meet standards are placed on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s impaired waters list, which is updated every two years.
Click the image below to read the full article in the Sun Current.
Above: A boat applies alum in Sweeney Lake. Thanks to persistent nutrient-reduction efforts, phosphorus in Sweeney Lake has been reduced by more than 40% since 2006. Credit: Jane McDonald-Black and the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission.