DNR: Little Rock Lake Drawdown Showing Results

(KNSI) – A drawdown of Little Rock Lake is showing results two years after the massive project.

In 2019, around 800 landowners and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources used the Mississippi River to lower the level in the lake in an attempt to clean up the excessive algae blooms and increase water clarity.

Little Falls DNR Area Fisheries Manager Eric Altena talked with KNSI’s Bob Hughes and gave an update.

“We saw some instantaneous results, the drawdown came around we had like seven foot clarity right there right away. Last year we had excellent clarity again like 65 foot clarity during the summer this peak time. I just checked with our Lake gauge reader this morning and the three and a half feet still. So that’s good.”

Altena says the results are a considerable improvement, but he was hoping for even more clarity.

“You got to keep in mind we used to measure water clarity in inches, not feet, inches. So, my expectations are probably a little bit higher than most just by the standpoint that I wanted to see complete flip and a total transformation.”

Officials say that Little Rock Lake draws water from a 70,000-acre watershed that eventually drains into the Mississippi River.

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