Edina

ABOUT

Arrowhead Lake is located in Edina (off of south of Highway 212) and is used primarily for wildlife viewing. Arrowhead Lake is landlocked with no surface outlet. Thus, the water level in the lake depends on weather conditions (snowmelt, rainfall, evaporation) and groundwater flow. Arrowhead Lake has a water surface area of approximately 22 acres, a maximum depth of 8 feet, and a mean depth of approximately 3.2 feet. Arrowhead Lake is shallow enough for aquatic plants to grow over the entire waterbody and to mix many times per year (polymictic lake).

 

Map centered on Arrowhead Lake, surrounded by residential streets, with Highway 169 to the west and Highway 212 to the north.
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 (2025).

Arrowhead Lake phosphorus levels 2024-2025
In Arrowhead Lake, the summer average total phosphorus concentrations have been better than the shallow lake state standard in 2011, 2024, and 2025. In 2025 the summer average total phosphorus concentration was 45 µg/L
a graph showing In Arrowhead Lake, the summer average Secchi disk transparency has met or been better than the shallow lake state standard in 2004, 2011, 2014, 2024, and 2025.
In Arrowhead Lake, the summer average Secchi disk transparency has met or been better than the shallow lake state standard in 2004, 2011, 2014, 2024, and 2025.
a graph showing In Arrowhead Lake, the summer average chlorophyll-a concentrations have been better than the shallow lake state standard in 2004, 2019, 2024, and 2025.
In Arrowhead Lake, the summer average chlorophyll-a concentrations have been better than the shallow lake state standard in 2004, 2019, 2024, and 2025.

 

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 Lake This study was finished in 2022.

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

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

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.

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