As the lakeshore
was further developed and the population became a year-round community,
the lake received millions of gallons of partially treated wastewater
each day from outmoded sewage treatment plants. In the early 1970s,
the Metropolitan Council prohibited discharge of sewage effluent
to all of the lakes in the Metro area, resulting in a significant
improvement in the clarity and quality of Lake Minnetonka.
Today, development
pressure remains high and the watershed continues to change from
agricultural to large lot residential and city development. We
chose two bays in Lake Minnetonka for our RUSS sites, Halsted's
Bay and West Upper Lake, for the following reasons:
- We wanted
to compare and contrast two adjacent regions of the lake that
had very different water quality.
- We wanted
to find out how important short-term mixing events from storms
were in controlling oxygen, nutrients, and algae in Halsted's
Bay.
Our RUSS technology,
data visualization tools, and interpretive information are designed
to help the public understand and respond to real-time changes
in water quality in their local lakes.
