Grant Money to Help Improve Water Quality in Robbinsdale’s Crystal Lake
City officials in Robbinsdale are hoping that a new grant will help get Crystal Lake off the state’s list of impaired waters.
“For many residents, I know Crystal Lake has kind of been a less-than-desirable lake for a while,” said Marta Roser, Robbinsdale’s water resources specialist. “Full of algae, a little smelly in the summer, and not a lot of fish — a lot of carp I guess, but not a lot of sport fish.”
The Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission just received a grant worth $216,000 from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to help treat Crystal Lake’s water quality. The watershed will also kick in an additional $154,000.
Crystal Lake has been on the state’s impaired waters list since 2002 for excessive nutrients. In the next few years, the watershed plans to use the money to reduce the number of carp and treat the water with alum to help the phosphorous in the lake settle at the bottom.
“I think this is a really great opportunity to clean this lake up from this legacy phosphorous, and from the invasive fish species we have there that are exacerbating an underlying problem.” Roser said. “So we can get rid of that smelly algae that comes every year and really enjoy our lake.”
Work will begin later this year to determine where all of the carp congregate before the removal process begins.
