Lakes

 
There are sixteen lakes in the Shingle Creek watershed. They are Bass, Curtis, Pomerleau, and Schmidt in Plymouth; Cedar Island and Eagle in Maple Grove; Crystal and Lower Twin in Robbinsdale; Magda and Success in Brooklyn Park; Meadow in New Hope; Palmer in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park; Pike in Maple Grove and Plymouth; Ryan in Minneapolis and Robbinsdale; Middle Twin in Brooklyn Center, Crystal and Robbinsdale; and Upper Twin in Brooklyn Center and Crystal. There are no lakes in the West Mississippi watershed.

Lake Description

Twin Lakes/Ryan Lake.  The Twin Lake chain of lakes is located in the cities of Brooklyn Center, Crystal, Minneapolis, and Robbinsdale. They are highly-used recreational water bodies that support fishing and swimming as well as provide aesthetic values. The drainage area to the lake chain is 5,550 acres of fully developed urban and suburban land.

Crystal Lake. Crystal Lake is an 89 acre lake within a 1,237 acre watershed.  887 acres are in Robbinsdale, the remaining 350 acres are in Minneapolis. The entire lakeshed is developed and has been for some time.

 
Cedar Island-Pike-Eagle Lakes. Almost the entire drainage area of these lakes is located within the city of Maple Grove with a small area located in the city of Plymouth. Cedar Island Lake outlets through a pumped outlet into storm sewer that is conveyed to Eagle Lake, while Pike Lake is connected to Eagle by a channel through a shared riparian wetland. 

 
Cedar Island Lake is approximately 81 acres in size with an average depth of 4.6 feet. The entire surface area is littoral (less than 15 feet in depth) and, therefore, biological communities have a significant impact on the in-lake water quality. The residence time indicates that runoff from the watershed displaces the lake volume approximately once per year.

 
Pike Lake is approximately 58 acres in size with an average depth of seven feet. Approximately 95% of the surface area is littoral. The residence time indicates that runoff from the watershed displaces the lake volume about once every eight months, providing a significant regular supply of nutrients to the lake.

 
Eagle Lake is approximately 291 acres in size with an average depth of 12.5 feet. Approximately 68% of the surface area is littoral. Residence time indicates that runoff from the watershed displaces the lake volume approximately once every four years.

 
Bass-Schmidt-Pomerleau Lakes TMDL. The entire drainage area of these lakes is located within the city of Plymouth except for a fraction located in the city of Maple Grove. The Pomerleau Lake and Schmidt Lake subwatersheds drain through the Bass Lake subwatershed to Bass Lake.  Bass Lake outlets through Bass Creek to Shingle Creek, which outlets into the Mississippi River. The area is almost fully developed, with a 2000 Census population of about 20,000.

 

Bass Lake is approximately 175 acres in size with an average depth of 10 feet. Approximately 82% of the surface area is littoral (less than 15 feet in depth) and, therefore, biological communities have a significant impact on the water quality in this lake. Runoff from the watershed displaces the lake volume approximately twice per year which provides a significant regular supply of nutrients to the lake.

 

Pomerleau Lake is approximately 30 acres in size with an average depth of 11 feet. Approximately 66% of the surface area is littoral. Runoff from the watershed displaces the lake volume a little more than once per year.

 

Schmidt Lake is approximately 37 acres in size with an average depth of 5.5 feet. Approximately 92% of the surface area is littoral. Runoff from the watershed displaces the lake volume approximately twice per year which provides a significant regular supply of nutrients to the lake.

Meadow Lake is a small lake in a fully developed suburban residential watershed, with a park and municipal golf course abutting the lake on the east. The lake is very shallow and is 100% littoral. There are six storm sewer outfalls into the lake. Meadow Lake outlets into storm sewer that discharges to Bass Creek.

 

Lake Magda is a small lake in a fully developed suburban residential watershed, with a state trunk highway abutting the lake on the west. A small wetland area abuts the lake to the north. Lake Magda outlets into wetland on the west side of TH 169, then through storm sewer to Eagle Creek.

Lake Monitoring

All lakes except Curtis and Palmer are monitored through the Metropolitan Council’s Citizen Assisted Monitoring Program (CAMP). (Twin Lake is comprised of three basins and is considered as three separate lakes for monitoring purposes even though it is one chain of lakes.) Monitoring has shown the lakes in the Shingle Creek watershed to be typical of urban lakes. For most lakes there is not enough data to identify clear trends. Many factors may influence a single year’s results, including weather, unusual activity such as construction in the watershed, or number of samples taken during the season.

The 2007 Water Quality Monitoring Report provides more detail on the Commissions’ lake monitoring activities.

Shallow Lakes

The Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission has developed a Water Quality Plan and Capital Improvement Program to address water quality concerns in the Shingle Creek Watershed.

In support of these efforts, the State of Minnesota has provided funds for development of TMDLs for impaired waters in the Shingle Creek watershed, including excess nutrient impairments in lakes as well as chloride in Shingle Creek. The results of the TMDLs will provide the scientific understanding and framework for selecting capital projects and management activities designed to bring the impaired waters into compliance with State water quality standards.

However, not all of the projects will be capital in nature; rather, many of the activities will involve management of the natural systems for water quality, especially in shallow lakes. What is a Shallow Lake? Generally, any lake that does not stay stratified throughout the summer season is a shallow lake. MPCA defines a shallow lake as lakes with a maximum depth of 15 feet or less, or with 80% or more of the lake area shallow enough to support emergent and submerged rooted aquatic plants.

Shallow lakes have received considerable attention over the last decade as demonstrating unique characteristics from their deeper counterparts. A healthy shallow lake has clear water and is dominated by native aquatic plants that provide habitat for fish and zooplankton. Degraded shallow lakes demonstrate turbid waters dominated by algae. Shallow lakes do not respond as readily to nutrient reductions, largely because of sediment and nutrient re-suspension from wind action, carp activity, and invasive nuisance plant species such as curly leaf pondweed.

Understanding the ecology of shallow lakes is critical to developing TMDLs that are both appropriate and effective for restoring shallow lakes. Recent studies suggest that restoration of a shallow lake may require more than simply reducing nutrient loads, but also may require biomanipulation, or changing the biological structure of the lake. Either way, a healthy shallow lake will have a significant aquatic plant community that is often perceived as an inhibitor to recreation.

Below are PDF versions of PowerPoint presentations given by Joe Bischoff of Wenck Associates regarding Shallow Lakes:

Shingle Creek Lake Nutrient TMDLs (February 2006)

Shingle Creek Lake Nutrient TMDLs (March 2006)

Shingle Creek Chloride TMDL (March 2006)