z c Lower St. Croix River Watershed Monitoring and Assessment Report February 2014 Authors MPCA Lower St. Croix River Watershed Report Team: Jordan Donatell, Chris Klucas, Pam Anderson, David Duffey, Bruce Monson, Gerald Flom, Joel Chirhart, Kris Parson and Dave Christopherson Contributors / acknowledgements Citizen Lake Monitoring Program Volunteers Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Minnesota Department of Health Minnesota Department of Agriculture Metropolitan Council Environmental Services Chisago County Soil and Water Conservation District Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District Valley Creek Watershed District Browns Creek Watershed District Project dollars are provided by the Clean Water Fund (from the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment). Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 520 Lafayette Road North | Saint Paul, MN 55155-4194 | www.pca.state.mn.us | 651-296-6300 Toll free 800-657-3864 | TTY 651-282-5332 This report is available in alternative formats upon request, and online at www.pca.state.mn.us Document number: wq-ws3-07030005b Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 1 I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 2 II. The Watershed Monitoring Approach ................................................................................... 3 Load monitoring network .................................................................................................. 3 Intensive watershed monitoring ......................................................................................... 4 III. Assessment Methodology ................................................................................................... 9 Water quality standards .................................................................................................... 9 Assessment units ............................................................................................................. 9 Determining use attainment status ................................................................................... 10 Data management ......................................................................................................... 11 Period of records ........................................................................................................... 11 IV. Watershed Overview ........................................................................................................ 13 Land use summary ......................................................................................................... 15 Surface water hydrology ................................................................................................. 17 Climate and precipitation ................................................................................................ 19 Surficial and groundwater withdrawals .............................................................................. 21 Observation wells .......................................................................................................... 23 Ambient groundwater monitoring .................................................................................... 26 V. Watershed-Wide Data Collection Methodology .................................................................... 28 Load monitoring network ................................................................................................ 28 Stream water sampling ................................................................................................... 29 Stream biological sampling .............................................................................................. 29 Fish contaminants .......................................................................................................... 30 Lake water sampling ....................................................................................................... 30 VI. Individual Watershed Results............................................................................................. 31 HUC-11 watershed units ................................................................................................. 31 Stream assessments ....................................................................................................... 31 Channelized stream evaluations ....................................................................................... 32 Stream habitat results .................................................................................................... 32 Watershed outlet water chemistry results ......................................................................... 32 Lake assessments ........................................................................................................... 32 Rock Creek Watershed Unit 07030005170 ........................................................................ 33 Rush Creek Watershed Unit 07030005190 ....................................................................... 37 Goose Creek Watershed Unit 07030005200 ..................................................................... 42 North Branch Sunrise River Watershed Unit 07030005250 .................................................. 47 West Branch Sunrise River Watershed Unit 07030005220 ................................................... 51 Sunrise River Watershed Unit 07030005230 ..................................................................... 56 Deer Creek Watershed Unit 07030005270........................................................................ 62 Taylors Falls Watershed Unit 07030005290 ...................................................................... 64 Lindstrom Watershed Unit 07030005240 ......................................................................... 66 South Branch Sunrise River Watershed Unit 07030005210 .................................................. 70 Marine on the St. Croix Watershed Unit 07030005340 ....................................................... 75 Big Marine Lake Watershed Unit 07030005360 ................................................................. 78 Browns Creek Watershed Unit 07030005370 .................................................................... 82 Stillwater Watershed Unit 07030005210 .......................................................................... 87 Afton Watershed Unit 07030005420 ............................................................................... 92 Basswood Grove Watershed Unit 07030005900 ................................................................ 95 VII. Watershed-wide results and discussion ............................................................................ 98 VIII. Summaries and recommendations ................................................................................. 122 IX. Literature cited ........................................................................................................... 124 Appendix 1 - Water Chemistry Definitions ................................................................................ 126 Appendix 2 - Intensive watershed stations in the Lower St. Croix River Watershed .......................... 128 Appendix 3 - Minnesota statewide IBI thresholds and confidence limits ........................................ 129 Appendix 4.1 - AUID table of results (by parameter and beneficial use) ......................................... 130 Appendix 4.2 - Biological monitoring results - Fish IBI ................................................................. 135 Appendix 4.3 - Biological monitoring results - macroinvertebrate IBI ............................................ 139 Appendix 5.1 - Good/Fair/Poor thresholds for biological stations on non-assessed channelized AUIDs ................................................................................................................................. 142 Appendix 5.2 - Channelized stream AUID IBI score Fish ............................................................... 143 Appendix 5.3 - Channelized stream AUID IBI score macroinvertebrate .......................................... 143 Appendix 6.1 – Lake morphometric and assessment data ........................................................... 144 Appendix 6.2 – MINLEAP modeling results1 .............................................................................. 150 Appendix 6.3 - TMDLs/Lake Management Plans/WD/WMO Links ................................................. 156 Lake summary sheets ............................................................................................................ 157 List of Tables Table 1. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches in the Rock Creek Watershed Unit ........................................................................................................................................... 33 Table 2. Minnesota Stream Habitat Assessment (MSHA) results for the Rock Creek 11-HUC ............. Table 3. Outlet water chemistry results for the Rock Creek 11-HUC ......................................................... 34 Table 4. Aquatic life and recreation assessments on stream reaches in the Rush Creek Watershed Unit ........................................................................................................................................... 37 Table 5. Non-assessed biological stations on