Birch Lake Stormwater Retrofits
The funds requested will provide Big Lake Township with the technical and financial assistance necessary to retrofit up to six locations for stormwater treatment practices within the direct drainage area of Birch Lake, an impaired water body which is very close to meeting state standards. The projects have been identified as high priority in several water quality plans including a TMDL, a subwatershed assessment, the County Water Plan and the Mississippi River (St. Cloud) WRAPS.
St. Cloud Stormwater Treatment Project
This project targets an older residential area that does not have permanent water quality practices. Storm water presently runs directly to the Mississippi River using out of date and under-sized infrastructure. Expanding upon a very successful pilot program for retro-fitting storm water treatment practices in residential neighborhoods, rain gardens will be strategically placed to maximize water quality benefits for each dollar spent. Each rain garden will have a pre-treatment device to help achieve the cost-effective long-term water quality goals of the City.
Elk River Watershed Pollution Reduction
The Elk River Watershed Association (ERWSA) was formed to enable Sherburne and Benton Counties to work together to implement Local Water Management Plans. Since its formation in 1994, the ERWSA has primarily focused on working with land owners to reduce non-point sources of pollution within the watershed. Sherburne and Benton SWCD staff have extensive experience installing conservation practices. The ERWSA draws support from Sherburne County, Benton County, and local lake associations.
This project combines the use of automated soil moisture probes for irrigation scheduling with diverse cover crop planting to reduce or eliminate leaching of nitrogen and other nutrients on cropland with an early season harvested crop in the rotation. The more efficient use of irrigation waters provides a secondary benefit: less withdrawal from the aquifers that provide recharge for the Mt. Simon-Hinckley aquifer.