Nutrient Overloading on Fertile Lakes. See the results...

[riverrat56]

MMongo, your concerns are very valid and you have put some time into the effort, but complaing about it on a fishing website won't change anything, contacting the DNR with your concerns is the next step to take.

Farming drives the economy around here, so sadly they will probably get their way.

[MinnesotaMongo]

MMongo, your concerns are very valid and you have put some time into the effort, but complaing about it on a fishing website won't change anything, contacting the DNR with your concerns is the next step to take.

Oh I agree fully and have already talked to the DNR at the dock after I filmed the clip. I ain't done with this yet. This was just to get a taste of how my fishing brethren would react to it (which has been very educational, to say the least).

Like I said earlier, I was just amazed at the severity of the problem in our area - and also more than a little shocked at how most people seem to just accept it as the status quo. (that's just my impression)

[Morneau132]

There are no "filters" in tile...The runoff just runs through the plastic or cement tile piping. If there were filters in the tile they would clog almost instantly after the first rain. Buffer zones leading up to the tile would be the only filtration....

[croixflats]

MinnesotaMongo do you know of the constitutional amendment coming up to vote this year that allocates money just for conservation of our lakes and rivers. Be sure to vote on it an absent vote will considerd a no vote.

Im also concerned of how some of our lakes are treated. I dont mind spending an extra $52 a year to help clean up our lakes and rivers. I just hope they use the money wisely

[Team Otter]

How long does the cement or plastic tile piping last?

[hawkeye43]

Call the county, there are setbacks that everyone has to follow. We can't apply manure with in 100' of a lake and that with a 100' buffer zone. The set backs around a tile line is 25' for us, but the farmer can plant and work right up to a tile intake. The placement of dry fertilizer does not have the same setbacks around tiles. I agree we need more buffer strips around lakes and along ditches, then the laws have to be change and with the high land cost and the high prices for crops, that won't happen.

Just because there is a agle bloom below a hog farm that doesn't mean the hog farm caused it. The wind could have blowen it in there, you should see tetonka today.

[sparcebag]

How long does the cement or plastic tile piping last?

They dont deteriorate,but eventually they fill with sediment thats leeched in. I have a concrete tile accross the bay 200 yds its dated 1932? 1938? its yet there,but the main field tile was replaced 3-4 years ago with plastic? PVC whatever it is Its connected to the concrete one. First place on the whole lake to open in spring and show noticable current! Sediment & weeds are HEAVY,Think about the nutrients directly entering a lake! No wonder its on the impaired waters list,besides all the ditches entering with no buffers,just straight farm field run off,and all the neetly mowed lawns planted to waters edge! SOMETHINGS GOTTA CHANGE SOON

[Morneau132]

Thank you sparcebag

[sparcebag]

Morn This has been my soapbox for a number of years now! On the lake I live they want sewer believing it will improve water quality.All that sewer will get is larger homes more surface runoff,more polution,and do nothing for the lake,No owners seem to be willing to have shoreline buffer zones! ARG It IRRITATES ME

[Muddog]

Quote:

MMongo, your concerns are very valid and you have put some time into the effort, but complaing about it on a fishing website won't change anything, contacting the DNR with your concerns is the next step to take.

This should be looked at as raising public awareness. The DNR can only do what they are told! They do not make decisions, they carry out orders. With out public awareness, law can not be changed for the better.

T,O I did say on lake Washington. Not all lakes.

[MinnesotaMongo]

This should be looked at as raising public awareness. The DNR can only do what they are told! They do not make decisions, they carry out orders. With out public awareness, law can not be changed for the better.

Exactly.

When I talked to the DNR guy - he knew about the tile - and asked if it was running. He also knew about the cornfield erosion - but pointed me to the buffer zone project at the dock. Frankly, I was a little disappointed at his response.

Frankly, I hope this grainy video ticks everyone off.

[sparcebag]

Just not long ago I posted that the DNR was taking recommendations from the public on how to manage shorelines. I posted on FM thinking outdoors people knew of the impaired waters problems and would reply to the DNR.Many voices are better than one!

Why not eventho the input time is over for public recommendations. WE ALL start emailing the DNR and voice our opinions of the water quality problems! I'm a shore owner on two lakes 3 lots and I asked they start making strictly enforced buffer zones for lake shore owners First Before the farmers were made to include buffer zones,Just to show the farmers their not being singled out,After all 80% of runoff degrading the lakes is noticed as farmfield runoff,But shore owners need to set examples not blame someone else.

[LMITOUT]

MinnesotaMongo do you know of the constitutional amendment coming up to vote this year that allocates money just for conservation of our lakes and rivers.

Pulling more money out of our pockets with this amendment isn't going to plug up any drain tiles or fill in any drainage ditches. Until those two things are done the results of this amendment are just a band-aid, if even that.

I know they are campaigning hard to make it seem that all of our lakes and streams will be crystal clear from all this money they are hoping to get when our taxes are increased, but that's just a pipe dream and they know it.

Fix the problem first, then go in and clean it up. You can't do the second part first and expect any tangible long term results.

[LMITOUT]

Here is a sentence from Collinwood Lake's "Status of the Fishery" on the DNR website:

Quote:

Row crop agriculture was the dominant land use in Collinwood's watershed and sediment inputs from Silver Creek, on the west shore, continue to degrade the lake.

When I read that my jaw dropped. As said earlier, it does seem that the problem is just accepted and there is nothing that will be done about it. This lake gets VERY green in the summer and it has some fairly deep water in it (25'+) although it is smaller sized (635 acres). I used to fish this lake exclusively about ten years ago, but now I barely visit the lake unless it's May or June because after that it's pea-soup. In just ten years I've seen that lake go downhill at an accelerated rate and I really don't see anything in it's future. It is really too bad because it is a very nice lake other than the algae bloom in mid-summer.

[hawkeye43]

There was a meeting in waterville about a month ago about shoreline buffer zones. I went to find out more, 2 dnr people put it on and it was very good. 3 other people showed up, thats it. We went to each of the sites and were told different things we could do to each. Now to find the money to do them, it could take a few years.

[MinnesotaMongo]

It's like we need a Lakes version of Pheasants Forever....

[Team Otter]

When does a majority of fertilizing occur?

[Scott K]

Spring, late may to early June.

[Team Otter]

Good information sparcebag. Thanks.

[Team Otter]

Scenario:

A windy but dry spring (i.e. ice-out through late May) that reduces water clarity on all lakes, especially those with a median depth less than 15'. The reduction in water clarity also reduces the light penetration to native and non-native vegetation, which spurs a premature algae bloom.

How much run-off, including and/or excluding fertilizer and other agriculutral things, enters a lake when there is a dry spring and can that be compared to a wet spring with less wind?

[harvey lee]

I don't believe that anyone can state exactly how much run off there is in the spring or for that matter any time of the year. But the fact is, its still there and needs to be controlled. It only takes one good rain and the run off is there.

I don't believe that we can control it all but we do need to control what we can as it is a fact that all the chemicals and other goodies that enter our lakes and rivers are not doing it any good.

[MinnesotaMongo]

Plus, from what I understand it is an accumulated effect.

[Team Otter]

How long does fertilizer that is applied to any given field maintain its strength or potency following application?

[MinnesotaMongo]

Here's an article from the U of Wisconsin reprinted below which will answer your question, Jamison. I've included the link if you want see for yourself.

http://www.news.wisc.edu/11285

Study shows eutrophic lakes may not recover for a millennium

June 13, 2005

Although it has taken just 60 years for humans to put many freshwater lakes on the eutrophication fast track, a new study shows their recovery may take a thousand years under the best of circumstances.

Writing in today's (June 13) online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), UW-Madison limnologist Stephen R. Carpenter reported results of a study that showed that the buildup of phosphorus in soils in lake watersheds is likely to be the source of serious chronic environmental problems for hundreds of years.

"If these results are correct, and I suspect that they are, things could get considerably worse," says Carpenter, a UW-Madison professor of zoology and one of the world's leading authorities on freshwater lakes. "The buildup of phosphorus in watersheds is very threatening. Sooner or later it is going to hit the lakes and it is going to pose problems."

Eutrophication occurs when nutrient-rich soil washes into lakes and streams. It stimulates the growth of algae and has transformed many of the world's lakes from clear freshwater reservoirs to soupy, weed-choked pools. It contributes to oxygen depletion, which leads to fish kills, and can stimulate the growth of toxic algae.

According to the study, industrial agriculture, with its reliance on phosphorus-rich fertilizers, is the primary source of much of the excess nutrients responsible for fouling lakes. In rich farming areas, like southern Wisconsin, the routine application of chemical fertilizers and phosphorus-laden manure, has resulted in the gradual accumulation of phosphorus in the soil, which, ultimately, has nowhere to go but into the streams, lakes and rivers of the watershed where it is applied.

"There's a huge amount of phosphorus in the watershed that hasn't washed into the lake yet," says Carpenter, meaning the problem is likely to persist for centuries.

The new study models phosphorus loading into Lake Mendota, an urban lake in Madison, Wis., that still has nearly 80 percent of its watershed in the rich, dark soils of Wisconsin farm country. It ranks as one of the most studied lakes in the world, and in recent decades has experienced a steady decline in water quality due to accelerated runoff and the resulting eutrophication.

But the lake is similar in most respects to lakes anywhere in the world, Carpenter says, and the results of the new study are generally applicable to lakes anywhere.

"The global pattern is the same," he says. "We are releasing far more phosphorus to the soil than would be released by weathering."

Restoring water quality is unlikely unless soil erosion is greatly reduced, phosphorus inputs are checked, and new technologies are developed for reducing phosphorus content of over-enriched soils, the report says.

"This type of eutrophication is not reversible unless there are substantial changes in soil management," Carpenter writes in PNAS.

The amount of phosphorus that runs into the lake in any given year is small, the Wisconsin scientist notes, but a little bit of the nutrient is all that is needed to send aquatic ecosystems into overdrive.

Carpenter's model also shows that, unchecked, phosphorus pollution could put Lake Mendota on a fast track to extreme degradation. "There is a potential shift to an extremely degraded state that could occur even if we shut off the phosphorus tomorrow. It would have water quality as bad as the worst lakes in the world."

Lakes that are that highly eutrophic, Carpenter notes, have a higher incidence of toxic algae blooms, which would make the lake unfit for swimming or exposure to domestic animals and pets.

"And the odor cannot be underestimated. Lake Mendota has a certain smell about it on some summer days now," Carpenter explains, "but we're going to smell a lot more of that."

Steps that can be taken immediately, Carpenter says, include eliminating the importation of chemical phosphorus to watersheds and limiting feed for cattle and other farm animals to feed that is grown in the watershed. At present, a significant amount of feed for farm animals is imported into the Lake Mendota watershed.

Last year, the City of Madison implemented a ban on chemical phosphorus for lawn products, but farmers still apply phosphorus fertilizers, even when soils have a reservoir of the nutrient.

The biggest help, Carpenter says, would come from reducing soil erosion rates. However, developing larger buffers around lakes and streams, restoring wetlands and encouraging the use of new manure storage and handling processes are also steps that can be taken to reduce phosphorus runoff.

"Anything we can do to reduce the erosion of phosphorus is going to be beneficial," Carpenter says.

[smnduck]

Great article.

The only thing that a person can accomplish by being quiet about a problem is helping it get worse.

Our southern Minnesota farming practices are so out of touch with reality that the destruction to our watersheds and wetlands is almost irreversible.

[MinnesotaMongo]

I'm a little dubious about the length of recovery time - scientists seem to have the ability to over-state that, especially when it has to do with nature, which is a great self-healer. That being said - it still is more than a bit disconcerting.

I'd hate to see my future fishing to include catches like this....

[Muddog]

Once again good job. You do, do your homework.

[WhatHappenedNow]

Here's an article from the U of Wisconsin reprinted below which will answer your question, Jamison. I've included the link if you want see for yourself.

http://www.news.wisc.edu/11285

Great article.

I have seen this first hand. About 10 years ago where I am from (Detroit Lakes area) the water table raised up 6 feet. Four lakes that were not connected together, except for in wet springs they had streams that ran between them, all joined. One of the chicken / hog farmers at a higher elevation had been using a few natural ponds as manure pits. With the new water levels the ponds started flowing into the new large lake. One of the lakes was a sandy bottom lake with clear water. Now all the 4 lakes suffer Toxic blue green algae blooms just like here in Southern MN. When I moved here in 1992 i didn't know if the water was safe to be in. I had never seen lakes full of green algae like here. I remember water skiing in Elysian in July and after I gotten up, had to pick all the weeds off (I must have looked like a lake creature for a little bit, none of the females would go skiing after they seen us coming up full of weeds.).

They are in the process of suing the farm's current family members. The family is blaming their father (who passed away a long time ago). They are offering a whole $50,000 to fix the holding pond issues if they are released from all future liability in the case. After reading your article about the 1000 years to reverse the damage, I can see why they are trying so hard to be released from liability. Image how much manure a large Hog and Chicken operation produces. And all that phosphorus is being added to the water shed and won't go away anytime soon. So a lake can go from high water quality to crappy in a short time if enough phosphorus is added to it.

[Scott M]

This paper and many other case studies highlight watershed issues and nutrient loading. If you stopped phosphorus loading in the watershed of every eutrophic lake in the southern third of Minnesota, you would still have huge issues with internal phosphorus loading. Many of these systems are hugely self-overloaded. Plants and animals have sequestered phosphorus, and the sediments are chocked full of phosphorus.

You'll have to forgive the overall feelings of hopelessness because for many of these lakes the only way to make changes would be to build a time machine. There are some eutrophic lakes that aren't in too bad of shape. Lakes with little shoreline development, small and relatively intact or undisturbed watersheds, and a history of few landscape changes in the watershed can be protected if protection becomes a priority. Roemhildts, Fish, and Lily are a handful of SouthCentral Lakes that come to mind.

[harvey lee]

I still would believe that by slowing down all the chemicals that enter the lakes, it can't help but help.