Northwest Anderson Lake - Nine Mile Creek Watershed District

Eden Prairie

ABOUT NORTHWEST ANDERSON LAKE

Northwest (NW) Anderson Lake is one of three connected lakes bridging the border between Bloomington and Eden Prairie.

street map of NW, SW, and SE Anderson Lakes — NW Anderson Lake and SW Anderson Lake, Eden Prairie; SE Anderson Lake, Bloomington

Water Quality

Graph of phosphorous levels in NW Anderson Lake from 1988 to 2018 — Phosphorus levels in NW Anderson Lake have been lower than the state standard since 2007.

The District’s water quality improvement projects improved the lake’s water quality from prior years. Previously, NW Anderson Lake had too much phosphorus due, in part, to curly-leaf pondweed, an invasive aquatic plant. Phosphorus fuels algae growth, and too much can lead to unwanted algae blooms. Reduced curly-leaf pondweed levels have helped the lake meet state water quality standards for phosphorus. Water clarity also increased as a result of the District’s water quality improvement projects.

Graph of Chlorophyll-a Levels in NW Anderson Lake from 1988 to 2018 — Chlorophyll-a levels in NW Anderson Lake have been better than the state standard since 2011.

Graph of water clarity in NW Anderson Lake from 1988 to 2018 using secchi disk — Water clarity in NW Anderson Lake has been better than the state standard since 2007.

Printable lake fact sheet

Past Projects

The Nine Mile Creek Watershed District conducted a lake drawdown to improve the health of NW Anderson Lake. The project goals were to reduce the amount of curly-leaf pondweed, an invasive aquatic plant, and control phosphorus levels in the lake. The NW Anderson Lake drawdown occurred in the fall of 2008 until the spring of 2009. Follow-up herbicide treatments occurred from 2010-2013. Monitoring data from 2018 indicate that the water quality improvement projects have successfully controlled curly-leaf pondweed and improved water quality. Monitoring will continue to track the success of the projects.

For information about other past District projects, click here

Recreation

NW Anderson Lake does not have many recreation opportunities. There are however, 2.1 miles of paved and turf trails at the Three Rivers Park District Anderson Lakes Park Reserve.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources may have additional information on the lake (including fishing regulations; location; water access sites; lake maps; lake reports on stocking, ice in/out and water quality; fish consumption; and aquatic plant surveys) if so, that information can be found here:

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html

Downloadable water quality data can be found here:

https://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/water-quality-data