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Data: Fountain Lake unfit for swimming
Web site shares MPCA tests of local waters
Published Thursday, July 9, 2009
Both the main part of Fountain Lake and Edgewater Bay have been found to be unsuitable for swimming and recreation, according to monitoring data collected by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency posted on a Web site powered by the nonprofit Conservation Minnesota organization.
The Web site — www.checkmylake.org — allows people to find out whether lakes around the state are clean or polluted, or whether they have been tested. It also includes whether the fish caught in the state’s lakes are safe to eat.
This is the second year for the site.
To find a specific lake, people can type in the name of a lake or type in a county on the main page, which will then pull up a list of all the lakes in that county.
According to the MPCA, only 14 percent of Minnesota streams and 18 percent of Minnesota lakes larger than 10 acres have been tested. Of those tested, about 40 percent of waters are found to be “impaired.”
Though the site did not include specific reasons as to why the main part of Fountain Lake and Edgewater Bay were unsuitable, it did include a general statement: “Lakes that are not suitable for recreation often have excessive algae, plant growth or even slime. This is often the result of pollution from phosphorus or nitrogen, which comes from sewage, fertilizers, animal waste or other sources.”
It stated the fish in Fountain Lake have not been tested; however, since none of Minnesota’s lakes tested so far have proven safe, people should follow the Minnesota Department of Health guidelines for consuming fish from Minnesota lakes.
The site lists the main area as the east bay and Edgewater Bay as the west bay. The north bay of Fountain Lake, named Bancroft Bay, has not yet been tested.
The following is a summary of monitoring results of other Freeborn County lakes:
• Albert Lea Lake: Monitoring results found this lake to be unsuitable for swimming and recreation.
The fish in this lake have not been tested.
• Bear Lake: The Web site states that initial testing has raised concerns about the ability of this lake to support swimming and recreation throughout the year. More testing is needed.
It continued: “Although there are not enough data to clearly determine whether this lake fully supports recreation, initial testing suggests that it has water quality problems and may not be suitable for recreation for much of the summer or periodically.”
The fish in the lake have not yet been tested, and according to the site, the lake has an invasive aquatic plant species called curly-leaf pondweed.
• Pickerel Lake: Monitoring results found this lake to be unsuitable for swimming and recreation.
This fish in this lake have not been tested.
• State Line Lake: The Web site states that just like Bear Lake, initial testing has raised concerns about the ability of this lake to support swimming and recreation throughout the year. More testing is needed.
The fish in this lake have not been tested.
• Other lakes in Freeborn County, including Freeborn Lake and Geneva Lake, were not yet on the Web site.
Paul Austin, executive director with Conservation Minnesota, said having this data on hand empowers people to make decisions affecting their health.
“Our 10,000 lakes help define Minnesota for all of us who live here,” Austin said.
Merlene Stiles with the Minnesota Environmental Partnership echoed that sentiment.
“I feel that awareness is important, that we should know about our lakes,” Stiles said. “If they are polluted, we should work to clean them up. If they haven’t been tested yet, they should be tested.
“It’s important to get them tested and then figure out where the pollution is coming from and how we can get rid of it.”
She said that’s why she is so pleased the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed last November, as one-third of the money from this amendment will be appropriated by the Legislature to test and clean up waters.
The data from MPCA included on the Check My Lake Web site is the most recent data released by the state agency, according to a Conservation Minnesota communications spokesman. It was officially compiled in 2008, though it might include tests from earlier dates.
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Comments
Posted by shiplady (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
After reading this, I feel that Albert Lea should test the lakes like this group did. So we know what is in the lake. Will we get sick if we injest the water? Should we stop water skiing and swimming in the lake? This needs to be checked right away. I hope the news paper starts asking questions NOW to find this out. Do not stop asking questions until we have an answer.
Posted by RoyBatty (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 10:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't panic before checking the facts. Look at the actual data they have, it is a summary from 1997 to 2006. At best, three years old.
Posted by regulators (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 10:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Farmers are the major contributors to the problem. What are they doing to limit there impact? Who's accountable for protecting the lake?
It would also be interesting to have the drinking water tested with results and analysis posted in the paper too.
Posted by Outsider (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 11:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Has Lake Frances as a lake not suitable for swimming and recreation.......the site is a hoax, in my opinion.
Has raised concerns about Mille Lacs, and says not to eat the fish from it.....
The site is probably brought to us by the same sprout eaters that cram global warming down our throats
Posted by controlledhyperness (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Keep in mind, the reason given for Fountain NOT being safe is overabundance of algea, or slime. THIS is a fact we as Albert Leans ALREADY KNOW! They also state that they have YET to find a lake that IS safe to swim in, as all lakes they have tested have failed. To which I say..its a LAKE!! There IS going to be gross stuff in it (where do you expect the fish to use the bathroom??), there is going to be growth in it (duh), and there is going to be slime (a lake that sits still too long becomes stagnate which allows things to collect at the bottom...). I understand that farmers use chemicals that also get into the water, but it also gets into the drinking water, into the food (to an extent) that they grow for us to eat. It's just a fact of life...so stop worrying about it!
Posted by ErnieGann (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 12:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Farmers are the major contributors to the problem. What are they doing to limit there impact?"
And you know this from WHAT SOURCE?
This finger-pointing has been going on for years--farm vs. city. The 134 page Wenck report, though otherwise very thorough--specifically avoids identifying points of pollution, and water quality flowing into and out of the lake.
The Watershed board has now started monitoring water quality of the tributary streams--and most of them test better for water quality going INTO the lakes than what flows OUT of the lakes.
According to a Watershed board member--95% of the County Ditches are mounded and filter-stripped.
Posted by Wolfie (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 12:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I checked on who owns the domain name "checkmylake.org" and its owned by a Saint Paul based group called Conservation Minnesota. There website is www.conservationminnesota.org. Interestingly enough I randomly checked various lakes throughout the state and specific ones I know and the general theme is the default description of any given lake is "Initial testing has raised concerns about the ability of this lake to ..........etc". Not saying anything negative, but before anyone raises the red flag and hits the panic button maybe some more testing needs to be done to ensure accurate info is published on the internet. There are far too many people that believe "The Gospel According to the Internet."
Posted by ArealMinnesotan (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 6:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"I understand that farmers use chemicals that also get into the water, but it also gets into the drinking water, into the food (to an extent) that they grow for us to eat. It's just a fact of life...so stop worrying about it!"
Stop worrying about it? Sorry, but the farms of today are nothing like the farms my grandfathers managed when they first started out. There are so many new chemicals that we are putting on our land (and therefore our water) that I cannot consider this a simple "fact of life".
By the way Roybatty, for water quality data to be credible, one needs to look at the water quality over time to be sure that the data collected is not just a fluke - the state looks at trends, not just a single sample that was collected. And much of the data collected is done locally by your county and watershed district staff.
And for the most part, you can eat the fish - but you need to limit how much you eat because of the mercury or PCBs that have built up in the fish tissue - unless you want your kids to have brain damage, learning, or behavioral disorders. Check the MN Dept. of Health website for more info on the specifics - or the Smart Fish Guide: http://www.iatp.org/foodandhealth/fishca...
Posted by ErnieGann (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 6:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
" That will not matter when they have to wear respirators and sunblock SPF-9000."
The apocalyptic world-vision of the liberal.
Put down the Game-boy and get out in the real world. Nature is bigger than AlGore (and that's saying a LOT!).
None of his frenzied "Save the Planet--we only have a couple of years to do so" have come true--in fact, the world is COOLER in the last 10 years.
Take a deep breath to calm down--and if you REALLY believe in CO-2 "Greenhouse Gas" theory--do us all a favor--HOLD IT IN!
Posted by policemisconduct (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 8:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I pay Higher Taxes to have clean lakes and drinking water. Watershed is a big fat JOKE!!!
Posted by controlledhyperness (anonymous) on July 9, 2009 at 9:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
arealminnesotan;
Back in the day of your grandfathers, there were still chemicals put on the land to help plants grow..it was called fertalizer, and it consisted mainly of aged manure (in order to get methane). I understand that since that day, more chemicals have been developed, as have plants (hybrids of corn and soybean...meant to get the best bang out of your buck). Regardless of how you look at it, the chemicals got into the earth, into the water systems under ground, and back to the tap. THat is why our drinking water is checked annually. The only way to stop that is by not planting anything, at which point we will all starve (which will be a point to start worrying). Kinda like greenhouse gasses and CO2...if we all hold our breath, our carbon footprint will dramatically go down.....
I am not trying to be disrespectful, but the reality of it is this. No matter what we try to do, short of not planting anything, and messing up the entire ecosystem, chemicals of SOME sort will ALWAYS be in our water..whether lakes, streams, rivers, or tap. Hence the reason I said to stop worrying about it.
Posted by crysandclay (anonymous) on July 10, 2009 at 8:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We tested Albert lea lake/Fountain lake in microbiology class last summer and it was the ONLY water sample that had to be filtered twice and mixed with sterile water in order to even identify differences in bacteria otherwise it was impossible to do because the petri dishes were PACKED with microorganisms. just fyi.
Posted by leftys2221 (anonymous) on July 10, 2009 at 8:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They have a limit on the amount of fish meals a person should eat in all Minnesota lakes.
Posted by daveee (anonymous) on July 10, 2009 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As a treehugger, I was hoping I could believe this group. But, no, on their website, the northern minnesota lake I swim in, which has a 20+ foot secchi disk water clarity (visitors say, "it looks like bathwater"), has the exact same warnings on their website. Not to say Fountain lake doesn't have problems, just that this group isn't really adding anything to the discussion.
Posted by allake (anonymous) on July 10, 2009 at 2:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Daveee,
I did the same thing with the lake we go to up north. I can't believe the Tribune printed this page one above the fold. They make it look like the MPCA has issued a statement on the lake but we seem to be getting a groups opinion on how they see it.
My daughter, who lives in Iowa, read this and was thinking about not coming home for the weekend for our "family 4th of July" since she thought we would not be able to use the lake.
I wonder how many other people the Tribune scared off by printing misleading informaion.
Posted by trifid (anonymous) on July 14, 2009 at 12:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is a reason why lakes around agriculture become cesspools: farmers.
There are methods of farming that can prevent the lakes from becoming cesspools, controlledhyperness. Speculation and profiteering, as is todays ag management, accelerates water, land, and air pollution immensely.
As long as agriculture uses lakes as cesspools, they will be cesspools.
Ag-businesses, farmers, and city dwellers who over fertilize, poison, and destroy our lakes should be held accountable for their crime. They have destroyed a natural resource belonging to all.
Accepting lakes as cesspools, as contolledhyperness suggests, is exactly why the lakes are cesspools.
Posted by trifid (anonymous) on July 14, 2009 at 1:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"The Watershed board has now started monitoring water quality of the tributary streams--and most of them test better for water quality going INTO the lakes than what flows OUT of the lakes."
Duh. I guess so. One drop of phosphurous off of someones lawn would make this true.
But what is the quality of the water coming into the lake? How clean/polluted is it?
>"Farmers are the major contributors to the problem. What are they doing to limit there impact?"
And you know this from WHAT SOURCE?<
The condition of Minnesota's lakes before European agriculture invaded was________?
The lakes were filling with sediment and ag run-off not long after the plows broke sod and ditches were dug. This is elementary geology.
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