Edina

ABOUT ARROWHEAD LAKE

Arrowhead Lake is located in Edina, off of south of Highway 212. It is a shallow lake that is landlocked and surrounded by residential properties.

 

street map of Arrowhead Lake area
Arrowhead Lake, Edina

Shallow Lakes

Learn more about shallow lakes and their functions and values. What does a shallow lake look like, and why are plants so important? What are the rules and regulations regarding shallow lakes? Joe Bischoff, a Senior Aquatic Ecologist and Certified Lake Manger with Barr Engineering Co, presented a webinar on April 12, 2022 to answer these questions and more. View the full recording below.

shallow lakes webinar

Water Quality

Water quality of Arrowhead Lake is poor, measurements for phosphorus and water clarity fail to meet the state standards for shallow lakes. The latest data from 2024 concludes that Arrowhead Lake is impaired. Arrowhead is a land-locked basin with no surface outlet. For that reason, the lake water doesn’t flush out, causing nutrients to build up in the lake, especially during large rain events. Although more nutrients generally lead to more algal and plant growth, more nutrients do not guarantee more plant diversity. Monitoring teams only catalogued two different plant species in the 2020 plant survey. One of the two plants was an invasive species. Overall Arrowhead Lake’s water quality is poor and its plant diversity is also poor with invasive species present.

Printable Arrowhead Water Quality Monitoring Report (2024).

Graph showing phosphorus levels in Arrowhead Lake from 2004 to 2024.
Phosphorus levels in Arrowhead Lake have been higher in recent years; phosphorus levels are higher than the state standard.
Arrowhead Lake's water quality has decreased in recent years of monitoring; the lake's water quality is now worse than the state standard.
Arrowhead Lake’s water quality has decreased in recent years of monitoring; the lake’s water quality is now better than the state standard.
Graph showing chlorophyll-a levels in Arrowhead Lake from 2004 - 2024.
Chlorophyll-a levels in Arrowhead Lake have increased and are now worse than the state standard.

 

 

Current Projects

The District has completed a lake water quality study that identifies potential water quality improvement projects to help improve the overall health of Arrowhead and Indianhead Lakes. This study was finished in 2024.

In addition to the water quality study, the City of Edina had fisheries surveys done on Arrowhead and Indianhead Lakes.

Learn more at the water quality study page here: Arrowhead and Indianhead Lake Study.

The District has helped fund several best management projects near Arrowhead Lake. Best management projects include raingardens, shoreline buffers, habitat restorations, and more. These projects help reduce runoff that enters Arrowhead Lake.

For information about other past District projects, click here.

Recreation

Arrowhead Lake does not have opportunities or access for public recreation.

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. Any information they have 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

diagram of ways to clean water—clean off boats for AIS, sweep up leaves and grass, pick up after pets, and plant native plants