Edina

ABOUT ARROWHEAD LAKE

Arrowhead Lake, south of Highway 212 in Edina, is a shallow lake that has poor water quality.

street map of Arrowhead Lake area
Arrowhead Lake, Edina

Water Quality

graph showing arrowhead lake phosphorus levels
Phosphorus levels in Arrowhead Lake have been higher in recent years; phosphorus levels are higher than the state standard.

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 2020 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.

 

graph showing Chlorophyll-a levels in arrowhead lake over time
Chlorophyll-a levels in Arrowhead Lake have increased and are now worse than the state standard.
graph showing water clarity on arrowhead lake over time.
Arrowhead Lake’s water quality has decreased in recent years of monitoring; the lake’s water quality is now worse than the state standard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Printable Arrowhead Lake Fact Sheet

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 early 2022.

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