Surface Water Assessment Grant
Stearns County encompasses 4 major watersheds, and is home to 294 lakes and 189 rivers and streams. These surface waters are protected for aquatic life and designated uses. Many of these water bodies are in existing watershed districts, while others fall under the sole oversight of Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). Stearns County SWCD does not employ a water-monitoring technician, and water bodies in its territory lacked chemical data consistent with other lakes and streams found in nearby watershed districts. Additionally, very few of the water bodies have active citizen organizations that can fulfill the data deficient monitoring. Due to this, a partnership was established by the Stearns County SWCD, with RMB Environmental Laboratories, Inc. (RMBEL) and Sauk River Watershed District (SRWD), to monitor data deficient lakes and streams. Most of these lakes and streams lacked chemical data due to sparse populations and a lack of funding for monitoring.
In order to obtain sufficient data to assess Stearns County's lakes and streams, Stearns County SWCD applied for, and was awarded, a Surface Water Assessment Grant (SWAG). The SWAG was set-up over a two year time period from 2009-2010, with funding administered by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
-Total Phosphorus (TP) → chemical component
-Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) → biological component
-Secchi transparency → physical component
Lakes were sampled six times per year, from June through September. Lakes with at least one year of existing data within the past ten years were only sampled for one year (2009).
The figure below identifies which lakes were sampled.
To view the SWAG Final Report Presentation Click Here
To view the 2009 Stream Data Click Here
To view the 2010 Stream Data Click Here
To view the Final Lake Data Click Here