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Cannon River watershed group outlines funding, septic concerns and flood-study plans to Rice County board
Summary
Emmy Scheffler, administrator of the Cannon River Watershed Joint Powers Organization, told Rice County commissioners the watershed group is five years into implementing its plan, receives state Watershed-Based Implementation Funding, and is prioritizing septic fixes, lake sampling and a FEMA-funded flood study set to finish this summer.
Emmy Scheffler, administrator for the Cannon River Watershed Joint Powers Organization, briefed the Rice County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 27 about the group's five-year implementation efforts and near-term priorities.
Scheffler said the Cannon River watershed plan was approved in 2020 and the joint powers board formed in 2019 to implement it across multiple counties. "Rice County is 27.8% of the Cannon watershed," she said, and the county contains much of the lakes region the plan targets.
The CRW JPO draws most of its funding from the state's Watershed-Based Implementation Funding (WBIF), which Scheffler said provides roughly $1,500,000 every two years. The joint powers board also levies dues to cover items state funds cannot, and Scheffler said Rice County currently pays $3,750 a year in dues. "Those dues cover stuff that the state funding cannot," she said, citing legal services, audits and insurance among examples.
Scheffler highlighted a 2021 septic inventory in Le Sueur County funded by the JPO that found about 50% of systems on Gorman and Wolney Lake and the village of Cordova were noncompliant; 10 systems were classified as presenting an imminent health threat. She said counties have struggled to find funding for nonconforming septic upgrades and that only imminent-threat cases typically receive MDH support.
On flood mitigation, Scheffler described the Upper Cannon flood study funded by a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant and conducted by Bolton & Menk. The study—which Scheffler said should be completed this summer—will identify landscape practices to reduce peak flows, including wetland restoration and larger storage features. "The biggest impact that we've talked about is gonna be doing wetlands," she said. Scheffler said upland basins alone would have only a limited, localized effect.
Scheffler also summarized current and planned activities: shoreline plantings, well testing and sealing efforts in partnership with Rice County Public Health and MDH, a regional-development sustainability grant with the University of Minnesota to develop outreach materials, and targeted lake-sampling paid from joint-powers dues (the JPO will fund sampling on about nine Rice County lakes that currently lack data).
Why it matters: Rice County contains a large share of the Cannon watershed and the JPO’s work affects county priorities for lakes protection, septic compliance and flood mitigation. The FEMA-funded flood study could unlock additional implementation funding but will also highlight potentially costly storage projects the JPO may later seek to implement.
The board thanked Scheffler and had no formal action on the presentation; staff will share the JPO annual report and materials referenced in Scheffler’s presentation.
