Stormwater Project Could Take Lake George Off Impaired Waters List

(KNSI) – A recently completed stormwater project is designed to get Lake George in St. Cloud off Minnesota’s Impaired Waters List.

The lake in the heart of St. Cloud has experienced algae blooms, giving the lake a green color with an unpleasant odor due to the high concentration of phosphorous in the water and low water clarity.

For the last several years, St. Cloud has used liquid alum treatments (aluminum sulfate) to reduce phosphorus levels.

In response, St. Cloud installed an extensive stormwater filtration system under the Veterans Memorial parking lot in the northwest corner of the lake.

St. Cloud Stormwater Compliance Specialist Noah Czech talked about the system’s number one goal.

“We really need to reduce the phosphorus that enters the lake. That is one of the primary water quality concerns with Lake George. Phosphorus is food for things like algae and maybe a potential green color that you could see on a lake or water body.”

City of St. Cloud

The system should filter runoff from about 60 acres of land around the north side of the lake. A holding pond on the south side of the lake, affectionately called little George, holds stormwater coming from that area.

Czech says the stormwater project is the last in several improvements started in 2012.

“Our expectations are this year. We don’t have any alum treatments planned in the lake. We are going to continue with our bi-weekly monitoring grabbing water samples to the lakes performing. And our anticipation is that the work that we’ve done we feel like we’re right on track to have the lake removed from the state’s impaired waters list in 2022.”

According to the City of St Cloud, the stormwater system will keep nearly 30-pounds of phosphorus and 23,000 pounds of sediment from entering the lake.

The stormwater project cost around $1.5 million. A Legacy Grant from Minnesota covered $700,000 of the cost.

Learn more about water improvement efforts by clicking here.

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