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Elm Creek Watershed Commission seeks input on 10‑year plan, flags chloride and runoff risks
Summary
Diane Spector of Elm Creek Watershed presented a draft 10‑year watershed management plan that lists impaired lakes and streams, highlights chloride as a growing concern, and outlines cost‑share projects, a street‑sweeper purchase and a multi‑year climate resilience study.
Diane Spector, representing the Elm Creek Watershed Commission and contract firm Stan Hill Consulting Services, introduced the watershed commission’s draft 10‑year management plan and asked the Corcoran City Council to share the plan for local review and public comment.
Spector said the Elm Creek watershed covers seven cities and that the commission focuses on policy, monitoring, education and coordination while implementation typically happens at the city level. "The watershed commission does not undertake capital improvement; it is governed by a citizen's board of commissioners," she said.
She said the watershed includes six lakes and several streams that currently fail state water quality standards (listed as impaired for nutrients, sediment, bacteria and low dissolved oxygen). Spector said chloride — largely a result of road salt use but potentially contributed to by fertilizer and soil amendments in agricultural areas — is an emerging concern that will receive focused study in an upcoming regional chloride management plan.
Planned actions in the draft plan include additional sub‑watershed assessments, cost‑share programs for voluntary best management practices (BMPs) on private and public land, expanded education and outreach through partnerships such as the West Metro Water Alliance, and targeted projects. Spector highlighted five agricultural projects funded in coordination with Hennepin County (approximately $275,000 in commission funds contributed toward practices) and a commission contribution toward a new street sweeper (commission participation estimated at 25% and a budgeted $100,000), which the commission estimates could reduce about 60 pounds of total phosphorus per year in the service area.
A multi‑phase climate resilience and sustainability study is the commission’s major work item for the coming decade; it will assemble hydrologic and hydraulic models, run scenarios on land‑use and precipitation change, identify vulnerabilities and recommend adaptation strategies that can be used by cities when designing long‑lived infrastructure.
Spector asked councilmembers and residents to review the draft on elmcreekwatershed.org and participate in an informal comment period in May, followed by a formal 60‑day review. She said the commission hopes to finalize and adopt the plan by the end of the year.
Councilmembers asked about agricultural sources of chloride and how local soil and development practices (including topsoil requirements and amendments) can affect runoff. Spector said those sources have not been fully quantified and that the commission will work with Hennepin County and other partners to evaluate them as part of the chloride management and resilience work.
