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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/15/08MINUTES OF THE LAKE ADVISORY COMMITTEE January 15, 2008 The Lake Advisory Committee (LAC) Meeting was called to order at 4:35 P.M. Members present: Dan O'Keefe (Chair) Harry Alcorn (Vice Chair), Char Jasan, Donna Mankowski, Jim Marchessault. Others present: Ross Bintner, Water Resources Engineer; Ken Hedberg, Council Liaison; 1 resident from Markley Lake. I. CALL TO ORDER II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES III. OLD BUSINESS A. Docks Task Force update: Alcorn stated that the group has completed its work on a policy. O'Keefe reiterated that the task force consisted of two members of the LAC and two members of the PC. Bintner stated that the City Council would review the document in a work session and then it would be presented to the LAC in February. IV. OTHER BUSINESS V. STAFF UPDATE A. Chloride and Bacteria Testing: Bintner stated that the city does water quality monitoring in cooperation with the PLSLWD and the Met Council. Individual monitoring by the City is done for Chloride concentration throughout the lake and Bacteria near beaches. Bacteria testing showed no high peak or average concentration. Alcorn asked what a high peak could be caused by. Bintner answered that the levels could peak due to runoff events or wildlife. The City has a policy that spells out when beaches need to be closed, and has never had to close them due to bacteria levels. Jasan asked at what level the beaches would be closed. Bintner explained that a single test over 250 CFU would result in a closure. Chloride testing over the last seven years were summarized in the data, chloride has been tested at seven locations both deep and surface locations across the entire lake. These representative samples show a slow and stead upward trend in the chloride concentrations. Possible sources of chloride are road salts and other sources. The City of Prior Lake is reviewing its winter street salting program to ensure that we are using material efficiently. An interesting point in the data was that Lower Prior had the lowest concentration of chloride of all samples and the Spring Lake samples were higher. This leads us to believe that there may be other sources in the upper agricultural areas of the watershed. Alcorn asked if there was a correlation between these levels and growth in the lake. Bintner said there was a state standard of 230mg/I for a chronic low level to threshold for wildlife and that we have not yet reached that level. Alcorn asked if there was an effect on plantlife. Bintner said he had not seen research on that, but it was a good area to look into. O'Keefe asked if we have worked with the DNR to get a sense of what these levels mean. Bintner said we had not, but the regulating agency would be the MPCA for this pollutant. The SWCD and Watershed District would be a good place to start as well. B. Summary of 2007: Street Sweeping Program & Raingarden Program. Bintner summarized two water quality related efforts that began in 2007. The street sweeping program was done as a grant to the PLSLWD in the amount of $10k. This was recently presented to the District Board. Highlights of the year were a large increase in the amount of sweeping. 599 cubic yards or material and 1176 miles swept. Prior to this tracking system we would sweep anywhere from 2-4 times per street per year. Average out, this year we swept each street 12 times. The sweeping effort showed that a lot of material was picked up in the fall. Alcorn asked if this program would have an improvement on the quality of the Lake. Bintner stated that this program helps reduce total pollutants, but does nothing to clean up the existing system. It will be hard to track water quality benefits directly. Hedberg asked where the City stores its street sweepings. Bintner stated currently there are stockpiles at the maintenance building near Markley lake and near the Maintenance Center across 21. C. Look ahead to 2008: Markley Lake Study & Downtown Drainage Study. Two items are scheduled on the CIP are these drainage studies. Bintner stated he is just now putting requests for proposals. Concerns at Markley that will be studied are because Markley is landlocked. Potential increases in volume of water from development will be studied. The downtown has three unique drainage paths. Little prior is a volume sensitive landlocked basin, the CR21 storm sewer is a water quality sensitive direct pipe connection, and Cates creek is a rate sensitive drainage path. D. February meeting conflict - New date Feb 20, 2008. 4:30pm. 2 E. PLSLWD Carp Meeting - January 23, 2008. 3:30pm. O'Keefe asked about the CIP money for this item. Bintner said we had planned to contribute up to $5k for carp removal but it was unused for so long we could not justify it. The upcoming meeting was a reassessment of the carp removal program. F. Southeast Minnesota Flood Event: The District Engineer reported on what their expectation would be if the epic storm that struck southeast Minnesota were to be centered over the Prior Lake watershed. Bintner reported that although exceptionally improbable on a yearly basis, flood heights would be amazing. The engineer predicted 912.5 peak elevations on Prior with the 15 inch rainfall. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. Election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2008. Marchesault nominated Alcorn, O'Keefe Seconded. Jasan nominated Mankowski for Vice Chair, Alcorn Seconded. Motion Passed (5:0). B. Introduction of Council Liaison to LAC. Ken Hedberg was appointed to a second year as LAC CC Liaison. C. Meeting ideas / Agenda for 2008. O'Keefe asked we handle this topic via email. VII. ADJOURNMENT ADJOURNMENT THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 5:40 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Ross Bintner Water Resources Engineer 3 ~~~~~ ~ -- ~ 6 F `~ /~'~T ,~ c - Peter Sorenson from the Univ~e sity of Minnesota made a presentation on Carp habits in some of the Minnesota lakes. Carp were first a river fish in the Caspian Sea in Asia. In 1877 the carp were brought from Germany to the USA. Carp are a specialized bottom feeding fish eating insects, plants, seeds and .They can dig up down to about one foot; uprooting plants and nutrients making the water very turbid. Carp are very resilient and rely on chemical cues to get around. These fish are very intelligent. Their growth is faster than any other fish and they spawn in the spring. Dr. Sorenson described findings from studies the University had done to study integration and phenomenal control of carp. They were looking, in particular, for ways to sabotage the carp's spawning habits. It was discovered using radioactive fish that carp do aggregate in the winter in one particular spot in Lake Riley. The carp have been age identified by using ear bone methods and it was found they were living up to 50 years. It also appeaxs than no new carp have survived in the last 8 years. Apparently the population in Lake Riley stays the same despite the fact that spawning occurs every year. Population graphs show that only in years after a winter kill did new carp survive. There appears to be high carp numbers in lakes that have access to marshy areas for spawning. Peter Sorenson stated that to control carp one would need to do the following: 1. Remove adults. 2. Eliminate re-infestation. 3. Suppress spawning and /or survival of young (recruitment). 4. Monitor, adjust, model: adults, recruits, and water quality. The Board was asked what they would recommend. The board responded that it would be pertinent to find out just how many carp there are on Spring Lake. The Board also suggested that they pursue asking other watershed districts if they would like to share in the cost of doing a carp study done by a University of Minnesota graduate student.