Lake Cornelia - Nine Mile Creek Watershed District

Edina

ABOUT LAKE CORNELIA

Lake Cornelia, just south of Highway 62 in Edina, is a shallow lake facing challenging water quality issues.

street view map of Lake Cornelia — Lake Cornelia, Edina

Water Quality

Phosphorus levels in Lake Cornelia are higher than the state standard.

Water quality in Lake Cornelia is poor and not meeting state standards for shallow lakes. The poor water quality is from excess nutrients (phosphorus) in the lake. The excess nutrients promotes algal growth (measured by chlorophyll-a) and can cause decreases in water clarity. The phosphorus in Lake Cornelia comes from several sources, including stormwater runoff from the large watershed area that drains to the lake, the breakdown of plants, and nutrient-rich sediments. Bottom-feeding fish species like bullhead and goldfish also stir up bottom sediments and release nutrients. In addition to the invasive goldfish found in the lake, curly-leaf pondweed, purple loosestrife, hybrid cattails, and common carp are also found in Lake Cornelia.

Water clarity in Lake Cornelia is consistently worse than the state standard.

Chlorophyll-a levels in Lake Cornelia are consistently higher than the state standard.

Printable Lake Cornelia Fact Sheet

Current Projects

The Nine Mile Creek Watershed District (District) and City of Edina are completing a multi-phased project to improve the health of Lake Cornelia and Lake Edina. To address pollutants in the lakes from stormwater runoff, the District installed a filtration vault located in Rosland Park in late 2021. Annual lake herbicide treatments by the City of Edina to control curly-leaf pondweed (2018-2020) have also been implemented and an in-lake aluminum (alum) treatment was conducted by the District in 2020. Beyond this, the District is working with WSB and Associates to manage goldfish in the Lake Cornelia system. The District will also assess the need to improve oxygen conditions in the lake, after evaluating monitoring data. Learn more about these project components here: Lake Cornelia & Lake Edina Improvement Project

For information about other past District projects, click here.

Recreation

Lake Cornelia has a 1.1 mile paved biking/hiking trail around the lake. Rosland Park, adjacent to Lake Cornelia, has picnic areas, disc golf, baseball fields, a playground, and an aquatic center. A variety of fish species live in the lake including: black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, pumpkinseed, yellow perch, common carp, golden shiner, and goldfish.

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