The Flute Reed River in Hovland has been named to the state’s Impaired Waters List because tests show it has too much sediment.
Out of the 318 bodies of water the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) added to the state’s 2016 Impaired Waters List, Cook County only has one addition, the Flute Reed River, said Miranda Nichols, MPCA Impaired Waters List Coordinator.
“The Flute Reed was listed for too much sediment,” said Nichols.
Every two years MPCA creates a list of waters that do not meet water quality standards and submits that list to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Water quality standards are defined by how much bacteria, nutrients, turbidity, mercury, etc.can be in the water before it is no longer drinkable, swimmable, or useable in other, designated ways, Nichols said.
Once a river, stream, or lake is added to the inventory of Impaired Waters, a plan is created to monitor it and fix the problem if it can be fixed.
Not included in this list is a standard for waters containing wild rice. MPCA has not finalized a method for identifying waters used to produce wild rice or for assessing impairment of those waters based on a wild rice related standard. The MPCA is currently working to refine the existing sulfate standards for wild rice that will lead to better methods for identification and assessment of those waters.
Since the first impaired waters list came out in 1998, Cook County has had many lakes documented by MPCA to have too much mercury in them. These lakes are listed with advisories telling the public how many fish can be caught and consumed from them before there is a danger from eating the fish, especially for children and pregnant women.
Cook County Soil and Water, working in collaboration with Karen Evens, Watershed Project Manager for MPCA based in Duluth, and the One Watershed/One Plan have taken corrective action to replace culverts and restore the banks of the Flute Reed River in an effort to reduce its turbidity, as well as work to correct erosion control issues on Poplar River.
“We are doing some additional monitoring of Flute Reed,” Evens said. “We are looking at the geomorphology of the stream and its tributaries to see what is causing the problem. We will assess the stressors and issue a pollution limits report which will determine the total amount of suspended sentiment allowed in Flute Reed, which is a trout stream.”
Evens said the collaboration between the county and local citizens living near Flute Reed has been tremendous, and, she added, “We aren’t always there. We depend on the people living there to help us figure out what is going on with the river and its tributaries. In Hovland, we have landowners who are allowing us to go through their property to access the river. That’s a big benefit to us and we really appreciate it.”
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