Clean water Funds and Thirty Lakes Watershed District complete
Water Quality Project. 11-24-2010 Lakeland TV Interview

Breezy Point, MN – November 18, 2010 – Now, instead of flowing into Pelican Lake, debris, chemicals, sediment, and other pollutants that accumulate on a parking area in Breezy Point Resort will enter a system of basins designed to filter and treat polluted stormwater. This is through collaborative efforts of Thirty Lakes Watershed District (TLWD), Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Westwood Engineering, Pelican Lake Association, Landowners and Breezy Point Resort who came together to complete this long-awaited stormwater project.
Tom Swenson Board Manger states “The planning for this project initially started 20 years ago, but due to many hurdles over time, it never moved forward. New efforts commenced this spring that brought all affected parties (land owners) together with one renewed goal of improving Pelican Lake water quality.”
In spring 2010, SWCD and TLDW received $39,000 for this project from the Clean Water Fund through a grant from the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR). TLWD will pay for the matching part of the grant. Tim Ramerth from Westwood Engineering and the Thirty Lakes staff as well as all parties affected, came up with a reasonable cost solution for this project. The solution included 4 treatment areas; 3 were designed and planted as raingardens and the 4th doubles as a grass lawn edged by native wet-meadow flowers. A berm constructed along the lake was planted in native shrubs and grasses as a goose deterrent.
Tim Ramerth, engineer with Westwood Professional Services, states “The success of this project can be attributed to the collaborative effort of all affected and benefited parties.  Due to the fact that this was a retro-fit project, there was little land area available for providing water quality solutions that were affordable.  The treatment train approach to water quality was the best solution that met the majority of the concerns, provided adequate stormwater runoff treatment for protecting Pelican Lake and keeps water where it falls.”
Local contractor Pratt’s Affordable Excavating (Merrifield) built the basins and Sunshine Gardens (Pine River) supplied and planted all the treatment areas with native plants. Many were grown from seed collected in Crow Wing County. Rick Holtz, provided the shredded hardwood mulch that covers the treatment areas. The mulch will block weeds and keep soil moist.
Beth Hippert SWCD Technician “The Clean Water Funds provide a great opportunity to work with the private sector on clean water projects and showcase natural solutions for healthy waters. Besides funding clean water projects they also support the Brainerd Lakes Area Economy!”
Now, because of this large collaborative effort between state, local business, and local government units (LGU) this project will reduce 2.5 tons of sediment per year and 15.2 pounds of phosphorus per year into Pelican Lake.
Pelican Lake covers 8,367 acres, which places it in the upper 5% of lakes in Minnesota in terms of size. Pelican Lake is one of few lakes in Crow Wing County that is considered to be Oligotrophic .Oligotrophic lakes are usually found in northern Minnesota and have deep, clear water, rocky and sandy bottoms, and very little algae. For that reason, this is a great example of LGU’S, State, and locals being proactive on water quality protections versus reactive to water quality problems which is less costly and more efficient.

Tom Swenson states “Thirty Lakes Watershed District would like to thank the engineers, land owners, SWCD, Pelican Lake Property Owners Association and the excavators, Pratt’s Affordable Excavating for all their positive contributions that made this project come to a successful conclusion. The watershed district is looking for more projects that will positively impact the water quality in our area.”

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* shoreland restoration, rain gardens, rain barrels, pervious surface systems.