Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District
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Posts tagged "Flood Study"

Stormwater Management and Flood Mitigation Study – Implementation Plan is Now Underway

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - May 16, 2018 - News, Flooding Updates, Prior Lake, Spring Lake

Photo of erosion at Gonyea Culvert

As if starting her new job as the District Administrator for the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District just one month before a nearly 60-year flooding event wasn’t difficult enough, little did Diane Lynch know that she would still be working on flooding damages nearly four years later. Over 13 Inches of rain fell over a short period in June, causing local flooding of homes and streets and overwhelming the Prior Lake Outlet Channel.

Damages From 2014 Flooding

The Prior Lake Outlet Structure and Channel was built in 1983 primarily for stormwater conveyance for land-locked Prior Lake in Scott County. The part constructed/part natural channel meanders its way over 7 miles to the Minnesota River.
During the June 2014 rain events, it is estimated that the lake level of Prior Lake could have reached approximately 912.26 feet without the outlet structure; whereas it peaked at… 

View Full Article →

View Full Article Flood Study, flooding

Flood Study Complete!

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - January 11, 2017 - News, Flood Study, Flooding Updates, Prior Lake

The Stormwater Management & Flood Mitigation Study is now complete and was accepted by both the Prior Lake City Council and the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District Board of Managers in December 2016.

The Study was initiated two years ago as a result of the 2014 flood. The Study was sponsored by the Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District and City of Prior Lake in collaboration with Spring Lake Township; Barr Engineering served as the consultant. The Study was comprised of four project phases: 1. Update the Watershed’s Model 2. Identify Flood Reduction Options 3. Evaluate Flood Reduction Options and 4. Develop an Implementation Plan.

Policymakers representing the three entities agreed upon four goals: Protect public safety and maintain emergency access; protect public utility infrastructure; maintain traffic flow through the County Road 21 corridor and maintain access to private properties.

Out of an initial list of 20 alternatives, the policymakers selected three to implement. They are: actively manage the Prior Lake Outlet; enhanced protection and secure upper watershed storage.

Actively managing the Prior Lake Outlet is considered a short-term goal and is the responsibility of the District. The District will create a process to analyze weather forecasts, storage capacity of existing wetlands and lakes and the flooding potential as part of updating its procedure to open the Outlet Structure’s low-flow gate. Currently, the District is only authorized by the Department of Natural Resources to open the low flow gate in response to snowmelt in the spring.

Enhanced protection is a short-term goal, as well. The City of Prior Lake will lead efforts to coordinate temporary enhanced protection measures during flood events. The City will develop a written policy which will be reviewed and adopted by the City Council.

Securing upper watershed storage is a long-term goal. This goal will identify potential storage areas that could provide flood damage reduction as well as provide water quality improvement benefits. The storage areas will be carefully considered with a key factor which includes the willingness of landowners to participate in a program to create storage areas.

A copy of the complete Stormwater Management and Flood Mitigation Study is available on our website along with other information about the project.

View Full Article Flood Study, Prior Lake, flooding

Flood Study in the News

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - February 10, 2016 - News

On Monday night (2/8/2016), the Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District’s Board of Managers, the Prior Lake City Council and the Spring Lake Township Supervisors met at the Prior Lake City Hall to review the progress of the preliminary findings of the Stormwater Management and Flood Mitigation Study and to provide necessary input on what priorities should be used to determine the final recommendations. The Flood Study was begun after the damaging floods of June 2014 and seeks to identify ways to reduce flooding levels in the future.

The meeting was on the 10:00 evening news for 5 Eyewitness News. Video of the news broadcast can be found here (start at the 12:20 mark).  The Prior Lake American also published an article covering the meeting which can be found here.

View Full Article Flood Study

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Prior Lake – Spring Lake Watershed District

The District covers about 42 square miles in Scott County, MN. Water in the PLSLWD flows mainly from the southwest to the northeast through Spring, Upper Prior and Lower Prior Lakes, and then north through the Prior Lake Outlet Channel to the Minnesota River near Valley Fair amusement park.
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Prior Lake - Spring Lake Watershed District
4646 Dakota Street SE
Prior Lake, MN 55372

Phone: (952) 447-4166
Email: info@plslwd.org

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