There was a continuing discussion by the Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association about the pollution of Lake Hiawatha at its July 7 meeting.
Sean Connaughty reported: “To start the meeting, Darren Lochner [Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Education Program Manager] was kind enough to share the MCWD’s knowledge of storm water management. He made a presentation for us. I enjoyed learning about the behavior of water and how it is moved through our ecosystem. Water gets absorbed by the land. And our paved landscape prevents this from happening. Increasing erosion, flooding and pollution. Ways to ameliorate: raingardens—important to limit the amount of runoff from our residences. Littering—needs to be addressed, via education and stenciling. I feel there is an increasing respect for our watershed in our community and a growing awareness of how we are impacting our environment. I noticed new signs at Cedar and Lake today indicating the border of The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. I think that is so cool. Interesting that Cedar Avenue and all of our streets are tributaries in our watershed. I am glad we have this resource and am so grateful for the work they are doing to improve the health of our watershed.
“Our proposal to build an emergency catchment at the storm drain outfall was received warmly by the SENA Quality of Life Committee and many interested neighbors who attended. What came out of it was a lot of potential for collaboration. We will continue our effort to get our proposal considered to build an emergency catchment at the outfall site. And will work with SENA and hopefully the MCWD to make it happen. And will soon bring it to commissioner Musich and the park board who are the final decision makers in this matter.
“Regarding permanent infrastructure change in the storm sewer line, this may prove to be difficult. We are not currently aware of the solutions that may or may not be underway to mitigate the stormwater. We hope to learn more about this. And will now work toward getting approval from the park board regarding our proposal. But regardless, If we do not alter the infrastructure of the storm sewer line, the problem will continue. The efficacy of stenciling has limits. Everyone will not make a raingarden, some people will still pollute and litter, the debris will wash into the lake and all the various forms of pollution will still come. The paint will wear off the stencils and we are back where we began. That is why I think it is important to change the infrastructure.
“My neighbor’s child was poked by a syringe at the lake and had to get medical attention to avert risk of infection. That is unacceptable. We know the solution. It is changing the storm sewer line infrastructure to filter the stormwater before it goes into the lake. In addition to systemic efforts to ameliorate incoming trash and pollutants such as stenciling, street monitoring and rain gardens.
“I take hope from the collaborative potential of SENA to help us move forward with our humble point-source proposal to build a vegetative catchment to capture trash at the outfall, and in encouraging changes in the storm sewer line infrastructure as the park board plans its Hiawatha redux.
“A plan to mitigate the stormwater seems like something that everyone could agree upon.”
Kyle Werremeyer has offered this analysis: “First, the vast, vast majority of pollutants to Lake Hiawatha comes from Minnehaha Creek. We could solve most of the issues surrounding garbage and pollution by working at the mouth of the creek as it enters Lake Hiawatha. Second, there are a number of water quality protections in place around the lake. It’s not perfect, and it can be overwhelmed by large storm water events, but the raingardens at 20th Avenue and 43rd Street plus the numerous water retention ponds on Hiawatha Gold Course do help remediate pollutants and to a lesser extent, garbage. If you personally want to work to reduce pollution and garbage in the lake, then control the storm water runoff on your property (including sidewalks and driveways) via rain barrels and/or raingardens. You, by yourself, may not make a difference, but 1,000 neighbors with rain barrels and raingardens could make an impact.”
Sean Connaughty: “According to Commissioner Musich, there is no possible way to retrofit the existing culvert, therefore we propose an emergency, ameliorative measure to mitigate the flow of trash and debris into the lake by creating a vegetative catchment of live and dead reeds, sedges, willow cuttings, and other native vegetation sourced from the immediate area to help filter the floatables and other large debris from the outfall flow during rain events. The permeable catchment would utilize materials already in and around the lake, strategically harvested and non-intrusive to the current ecosystem. We believe this solution would greatly reduce the amount of trash entering the watershed. Our prior tests and observations have established that much of the garbage entering the lake is from this storm sewer outfall. A small island of sediment has formed in the lake in front of the outfall. It is already being colonized by vegetation. The process has already begun naturally and we propose nudging it along with a strategic planting of non-invasive plants to increase filtration.”
SENA reports: “In coordination with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) and Minneapolis Public Works, SENA has arranged for a “Neighborhood Stormwater Stenciling Project” on Sunday, July 26, from 9 a.m. to noon. Taking place at the same time as the MCWD’s “Minnehaha Creek Cleanup Event” headquartered at Lake Hiawatha, we’ll meet up there at 9 a.m., distribute stenciling kits, maps and instructions and fan out across the neighborhood. We’ll return to Lake Hiawatha park by 11:30 a.m. for free BBQ, beer (if you’re old enough) and celebration as provided by MCWD. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in participating (we must have an accurate number of stenciling groups in order to obtain the right amount of stenciling kits).”
