Spring Lake

Quick Facts

DNR Lake Number: 70005400
Surface Area: 587 acres
Average Depth: 18 feet
Maximum Depth: 34 feet
Bathymetry Map: View map here
Ordinary High Water Level: 912.8 feet above sea level
High Water No-Wake Restrictions: When lake level exceeds 912.8 feet*
Watershed Area: 12,430 acres
Connectivity to other waterbodies: Flows north into Upper Prior Lake. Receives the water which drains from the primarily agricultural upper watershed, including County Ditch 13 and the Buck Lake watershed.
Public Boat Access: Vergus Ave (southwest corner of the lake)
Impairment Status: Impairments for Excess Nutrients,** Biota,*** and Mercury****

*No-Wake restrictions are set by the City of Prior Lake and enforced by the Scott County Sheriff. Once high water levels have subsided and remained below the no-wake level (912.8 ft) for 72 hours, no-wake restrictions will be lifted. For more no-wake details, see the full city ordinance.

**See the TMDL study for more information.

***Biota impairments are not handled at the local government level. The State of MN addresses impaired biota by examining the interactions of numerous physical, chemical, and biological processes that define community composition. Biological impairments can be driven by natural or unnatural changes to one or many components of these systems. Biological impairments differ from some traditional water quality impairments in that the impaired biotic communities are indicators of disturbance rather than causes of disturbance. Biological impairments are commonly caused by stressors that are not considered conventional pollutants. These include stressors such as degraded habitat or altered hydrology. Minnesota utilizes the process of stressor identification developed by the EPA to identify the dominant stressors.

**Mercury impairments are not handled at the local government level. The State of MN has a TMDL they are following here.

Lake Level Data

All lake level data below are approximate and preliminary – NOT to be used for legal purposes. Sudden drops or spikes are often due to calibration, which are manual adjustments to correct the lake level value. Please contact the PLSLWD office for official readings. Lake levels after 2012 were collected using an automated level logger that is calibrated to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) staff gauge. Lake levels prior to 2012 were recorded by reading the DNR staff gauge manually.

Occasionally, especially during cloudy weather, the level logger does not get service and the lake level does not get updated automatically on the graph below. This can last for a couple days and there is nothing we can do. If you need to know the lake level, you can check the staff gauge near the Raymond Park public dock. Just add 909.76 to the number that you see to get the mean sea elevation.

Flow

Estimated flow through the Spring Lake outlet stream, calculated from a rating curve based on past measurements of lake level and discharge. Note that the rating curve is only valid for lake elevations between 910 and 914 and when there is no temporary dam in place (e.g. 2014 flood control efforts). Stream discharge is calculated in cubic feet per second (cfs).

Water Temperature

Temperature data available from March 31, 2017 onward. Temperatures do not reflect surface conditions on the lake as the sensor in a well below the lake bottom.