Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Rss
info@plslwd.org
952-447-4166
  • Home
  • About 
    • District Overview
    • District Background
    • Meetings
      • Meetings
      • Board Materials, Meeting Minutes & Video Recordings
      • Citizen Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • District Plans & Reports
    • MS4 Application & SWPPP
    • District Press
    • Maps
    • Partners
    • Employment Opportunities
  • Waterbodies
    • Arctic Lake
    • Buck Lake
    • Cates Lake
    • Crystal Lake
    • Fish Lake
    • Haas Lake
    • Jeffers Pond
    • Pike Lake
    • Prior Lake, Lower
    • Prior Lake, Upper
    • Prior Lake Outlet Channel
      • Prior Lake Outlet Channel (PLOC)
      • Outlet Structure
      • FEMA Repairs
      • Prior Lake Outlet System Reports
    • Rice Lake
    • Spring Lake
    • Sutton Lake
    • Swamp Lake
  • Projects and Programs 
    • Projects
      • Alum Treatments
      • Carp Management
        • Carp Management
        • Carp Removal UPDATES
        • Carp Volunteer Opportunities
      • Ferric Chloride Treatment Facility
      • Fish Lake Shoreline & Prairie Restoration Project
      • CR 12/17 Wetland Restoration
      • Lower Prior Lake Protection Projects
        • Fish Point Park Retrofits
        • Sand Point Beach Park Project
        • Indian Ridge Water Quality Improvement
        • Watzl’s Beach Shoreline Restoration
      • Raymond Park Restoration Project
      • Spring Lake Shoreline Restoration
      • Sutton Lake Stormwater Storage Project
    • Monitoring
      • Stream Monitoring
      • Lake Monitoring
      • Precipitation
    • Rules and Permitting
    • 2020 Water Resources Management Plan
  • News & Events
  • Learn More
    • Home and Yard
    • Shoreline
    • Boating
    • Ponds & Wetlands
    • Agriculture
    • Fact Sheets
  • Get Involved!
    • 50th Anniversary of the District
    • Calendar
    • Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC)
    • Farmer-Led Council (FLC)
      • FARMER-LED COUNCIL EVENTS
      • FLC Cost-Share Opportunities
      • Cover Crop Initiative
      • Lake-Friendly Farm Program
    • Volunteer Opportunities
      • Volunteer Events
      • Monitoring Opportunities
      • Carp Volunteer Opportunities
    • Cost Share – Fund Your Project
    • Training & Workshops
  • Contact
    • Board Members
    • Staff
Search our website...

Posts tagged "salt"

Grants Available for Chloride Reduction Equipment

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - January 21, 2021 - News

Funds are available through the Scott SWCD to help Scott County organizations and private winter maintenance contractors purchase winter de-icing equipment. Reduce your salt use today to save money and help protect local lakes & streams from salt pollution.

Grants provide up to $3,000 to purchase:

  • Salting shields
  • Liquid-based salt tanks and sprayers
  • High precision applicators
  • Changing from granular salt application to brine application

Eligible applicants include:

  • Private winter maintenance contractor
  • Non-profit organization who does their own winter maintenance on parking lots & sidewalks
  • Public & private school districts

Visit www.scottswcd.org/chloride for official application and program details.

View Full Article chloride, chlorides, cost-share, grants, maintenance, pollution, salt, winter, winter maintenance

Winter Maintenance Workshop for Residents: Watch on Demand Now

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - December 22, 2020 - News, Prior Lake, Spring Lake

The Winter Maintenance Workshop for homeowners was last week, but don’t worry if you missed it because it’s now available online. You can watch it on the Scott SWCD’s YouTube channel here!

Salt smartly this winter. Did you know it only takes 1 teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute 5 gallons of water? Winter salt use is a major contributor to salt pollution in our freshwater lakes and streams. The good news is simple winter maintenance strategies can protect local freshwater from salt pollution.

Learn how to save money, reduce your salt use and protect your property from salt damage while keeping your driveway clear and lakes & streams clean!

View Full Article chloride pollution, chlorides, homeowner, resident, salt, winter, winter maintenance, workshop

Salt Smartly This Winter: Free Homeowner Workshop Dec 15

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - December 8, 2020 - News

Join the Scott SWCD and the Scott Watershed Management Organization (WMO) for a new FREE Homeowner Strategies to Reduce Salt Pollution webinar!

Learn the best winter maintenance strategies to save you money, protect your property from salt damage, and keep harmful chlorides out of our lakes and streams. It only takes 1 teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water. Let’s keep the freshwater of our lakes and streams fresh!

The event will be held via Zoom on December 15th, from 6:30-7:30 PM. To register, call the Scott SWCD Education Specialist, Shelby Roberts at 952-492-5448 or click HERE to register online. Pre-registration is required.

View Full Article chloride, chloride pollution, chlorides, lakes, salt, sidewalk, snow removal, streams, winter, winter maintanence

7 Spring Lawn Care Tips for Clean Water

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - April 24, 2019 - News

Spring is here and winter is behind us.  Finally we are able to get outside and spend some time in the yard.  Along with all the barbeques, games of catch, and playing with the dog comes yard maintenance.  Remember that how we care for our yards affects the health of our rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Water conservation is not only about using less water, but also about keeping that water clean and free from pollution.  Follow these yard care tips for cleaner water this spring:

  • Sweep up extra salt!  If there are places where there is dry salt on the sidewalk left over from winter, sweep it up and save it for next year.  If left on the sidewalk, this salt will get washed away by rain into local waterbodies where pollution from salt is a growing problem.
     
  • Pick up after pets! In addition to containing phosphorus, pet waste contains bacteria which can lead to beach-closings. Bacteria from animal waste is a growing water quality concern, and pet waste is a large contributor.  Collect pet waste in plastic bags and place it in the trash.  Pet waste does not just disappear.  When left on the lawn, rain water will break it apart and carry it to the stormdrain.
     
  • Clean up grass clippings! When mowing, keep grass clippings off of sidewalks, driveways, and streets.  If clippings do stray, blow or sweep them back onto the lawn to be used as mulch.  Please don’t hose them into the gutter and stormwater system!  This wastes water and adds phosphorus to our local water bodies.
     
  • Soak up the rain naturally! Natural landscapes soak up rain like a sponge. Converting excess lawn to native plants means longer roots, allowing rain water to soak in.  Be sure to direct your downspouts onto your lawn and landscaping so the rain water can soak in instead of running down your driveway into the gutter.  If you are adventurous, you can create a raingarden, a landscape bed with a shallow depression designed to capture and soak up rain water.
     
  • Catch the rain! Consider installing a rain barrel.  Rain barrels catch water during while it is raining, reducing stormwater, plus you can use that rain water later to water your garden during a dry spell.  It is a win-win.
     
  • Water wisely! If you have a sprinkler system, make sure it is not running when your lawn already has enough water!  Many automatic sprinkler systems run whether they need to or not. This not only unnecessary, it also creates additional stormwater.  Most lawns need just one inch of water each week, including rainfall, so water less if it has recently rained, or if rain in the forecast.  Also, make sure your sprinkler is watering your lawn and landscaping and not your driveway or sidewalk.
     
  • Keep soil in place! Bare soil from your yard can easily wash away with rain and fill in wetlands, rivers and lake bottoms. In addition to destroying aquatic wildlife habitat, dirt carries phosphorus, the pollutant that turns lakes green with algae. Cover bare areas of your lawn with grass seed or other perennial vegetation to keep the ground covered.

Everything we do on our lawns, driveways and yards eventually ends up in our rivers, lakes and wetlands. Everyday decisions do matter.

View Full Article Inspiring Action, clean water, home & yard, lawn, pets, salt, spring, water, yard

Local streams impacted by salt pollution; Workshop aims to reduce salt pollution

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - January 17, 2019 - News

This article was written by Maggie Stanwood and was originally published in the January 12, 2019 edition of the Prior Lake American.

Local governments are offering workshops for contractors and others about the use of rock salt to thaw icy roads and sidewalks and on how to use less of it to protect local waterways.

Each winter, hordes of maintenance workers across Minnesota venture into the cold to combat the threat of ice on roads, sidewalks and parking lots with rock salt — too much, in fact, some experts say.

The rock salt, an unrefined version of table salt, dissolves into its separate ions — sodium and chloride — when it meets water in one form or another. The chloride then remains there, traveling with the water through the environment.

Therein lies the problem. Once the chloride is in the water, there’s no feasible method to remove it. And too much salt in a freshwater system can wreak havoc, said Scott County Natural Resources Senior Water Resources Planner Melissa Bokman.

“It affects aquatic fish, aquatic bugs, amphibians; it affects plants,” Bokman said. “It can stay in the soil. It affects your pets. There’s a lot of problems with salt.”

Three bodies of water in Scott County are on a federal impaired waters list for containing too much chloride: Credit River, Sand Creek and Raven Stream.

Several local streams in Scott County have been listed as impaired because they have high levels of chloride.

The county, municipalities and watershed districts are attempting to keep the other bodies of water in Scott County off the list by hosting free winter maintenance workshops for contractors, property managers, school district staff and volunteers who are responsible for maintaining roads and walkways in the winter.

The first workshop is on Jan. 16 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Spring Lake Township Hall on Fairlawn Avenue. The free workshops will be held every couple months through this year. (The next Parking lot & Sidewalk workshops are August 23 & Oct 22).

“A lot of people don’t know how much salt they should be using,” Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District Water Resources Outreach Specialist Kathryn Keller-Miller said. “They’re worried about liability, so they’ll put down extra just in case because they don’t want there to be ice, but in reality they’re using way more than they need to. These workshops came out of that.”

The presentations will be conducted by Fortin Consulting staff as well as a member of the winter maintenance industry so attendees can hear both the science and the practicalities of how and why to reduce salt use, Fortin Consulting Founder Connie Fortin said.

“My company felt like salt was an overlooked pollutant,” Fortin said. “We felt if they understood the serious consequences of putting salt in the water and if we gave them practical things to do to lower salt use that we could get them on our team and move the industry forward.”

For a water body to be considered impaired in regards to chloride pollution, there can be up to 230 milligrams of chloride per liter, which is equivalent to one teaspoon of salt in a five-gallon bucket of water.

“We say, what if you could use one less teaspoon. That would be easy, and you would save five gallons of water from being permanently polluted,” Fortin said.

It only takes one teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water. Apply salt only where needed, and once all ice is melted, sweep up any excess salt to reuse later.

A University of Minnesota study found that 78 percent of salt applied in the Twin Cities metropolitan area in the winter made its way to groundwater, lakes or wetlands, according to the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Chloride Management Plan from February 2016.

“Once chloride is in water, the only known technology for its removal is (reverse osmosis) through massive filtration plants, which is not economically feasible,” the report states. “This means that chloride will continue to accumulate in the environment over time.”

Fortin said the methods suggested at the workshop are geared toward workers limiting salt use as much as possible, such as driving slower when applying salt so the dry rock salt isn’t wasted by bouncing off the road.

Because rock salt is not effective if pavement is 14 degrees or colder, the workshop suggests using a different solution or chemical if it’s colder than that.

Liquid mixtures, while not as effective as rock salt, act faster on ice and snow and are about 77 percent water, leading to less environmental damage, Fortin said.

“We look at those different strategies of what chemicals, what spread patterns, what strategies can we use so we use the smallest amount necessary,” Fortin said.

While the workshop is not geared toward residents, residents can also reduce their salt use. Water softeners, for instance, use sodium to remove minerals from water.

“All that soft water eventually gets into our streams and our lakes,” Bokman said.

Residents can also be less zealous on removing 100 percent of ice from sidewalks with ice. If traction is needed, granite pieces or chicken grit can be thrown down and re-used later.

“It’ll give you grip on the ice and give you traction, but you wouldn’t need to use the salt,” Keller-Miller said. “Some people use sand, but sand isn’t always the best because that also washes down the drain and can cause turbidity issues with the water.”

There’s also the good old-fashioned shovel and supporting a municipality or contractor deciding to use less salt, Fortin said.

“Be more encouraging and tolerant as the industries are trying to change,” Fortin said.

Pre-registration is required for the workshops. Those wanting to participate can register by emailing mbokman@co.scott.mn.us or by calling 952-496-8887.

View Full Article Water quality, chloride pollution, chlorides, impaired, road salt, salt, salt use, snow, snow removal, streams, water resources, winter, winter maintenance, workshop
  • 1
  • 2

News & Events

  • Ongoing Projects
    • Fish Point Park Retrofits
    • Highway 13 Ferric Chloride
    • Monitoring
    • CR 12/17 Wetland Restoration
    • Carp Management
      • Where are the carp?
    • Flood Study
    • Indian Ridge Park Water Quality Project
    • Spring Lake Shoreline Restoration
  • Completed Projects
    • Arctic Lake Subwatershed Analysis
    • Lower Prior Diagnostic Study
    • Spring Lake Alum Treatment
  • News
  • Flooding Updates
  • Prior Lake
  • Spring Lake

News Archives

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.
Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment

Prior Lake - Spring Lake Watershed District
4646 Dakota Street SE
Prior Lake, MN 55372

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

PLSLWD on FacebookPLSLWD on Twitter

Quick Links

  • Home
  • About Us
  • News & Events
  • FAQ
  • Waterbodies
  • Prior Lake Outlet Channel (PLOC)
  • Projects and Programs
  • Contact Us
(c) 2018 Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District, All Rights Reserved. Minneapolis web design by Iceberg.