At a March 16 public hearing, Clearwater River Watershed District Managers met with Meeker County Board of Commissioners and residents to discuss the watershed taking over management of the Meeker County ditches in the watershed’s boundaries. The watershed decided to create a committee of watershed, county and citizen representatives to look at implementing a plan. The committee will begin meeting next month. “There is a lot of work to be done,” said Meeker County Commissioner Hugh Wagner. “It’s going to take some time. There was some opposition. We need to make sure everyone’s concerns are addressed.” Dec. 10, at their regular meeting, watershed managers were asked by Wagner, if the CRWD would take over the county’s ditches that lie in the watershed. “The watershed has the expertise that the county doesn’t have,” Wagner said in December. “The ditches are on the end where the watershed district starts. I see it as part of a total management plan.” The new duties would help the CRWD board control the amount of run-off entering the watershed at its source. Wagner said currently the county highway engineer has authority over the rural field ditches that would be affected. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency could not fit a monitoring program into next years budget that would help collect data to cleanup area lakes. This action prompted the Clearwater River Watershed District to cover the $1,800 costs of the monitoring so phase 2 of a cleanup plan can continue. The main stem of the Clearwater River and Lake Louisa exceed state-allowed levels for water pollutants. They have been deemed impaired for several years and are in desperate need of cleanup. The CRWD recently started a multi-phase project to clean Lake Louisa, located between South Haven and Kimball, and the Clearwater River west of State Highway 15 toward Watkins. The main stem of the Clearwater River showed fecal coliform levels that were 10 times above the state-allowed levels of 200 colonies per 100 milliliters of water. Also, at times during the summer, the river has had depleted oxygen levels that would endanger fish. Lake Louisa shows high levels for nutrients, especially phosphorus. The monitoring will help the watershed managers better determine what may be causing the pollution.
