Normandale Drawdown Begins
Normandale Lake Water Quality Improvement Project
The drawdown on Normandale lake began on August 20th. Contractors for the District began pumping water out of Normandale Lake, and installed a weir to maintain normal upstream water levels. It will take several weeks for the water to be pumped out of the lake and drained through an existing bypass pipe. In addition, fencing was installed around the lake to protect turtles and guide them to new overwintering habitat.
Though not all the water will be drained, most of the lake will remain empty throughout the coming winter. This will freeze the exposed lake bottom and kill an invasive aquatic plant called curly-leaf pondweed. The lake will fill up again by April of 2019. This project will result in a healthier native plant population growing in the lake.
For more details visit the District’s Normandale Project page.
In the News
Star Tribune Article (August 23, 2018)
Bloomington Briefing (August 2018)
WCCO Interview (August 23, 2018)
KSTP interview (August 22, 2018)
You can also check out these educational videos made in partnership with the City of Bloomington.
Pack your bags, Pondweed!
View video summary
A short, humorous video from the City of Bloomington. The invasive curly-leaf pondweed complains that none of the other plants like it, while visitors grumble that Normandale Lake is green and smelly. The City and the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District then explain their plan: drain the lake so the pondweed freezes over the winter, then let the creek refill it so the lake looks and smells better. “Pack your bags, pondweed, you’re out of here.”
Upcoming water quality project to clean up Normandale Lake
View video summary
A City of Bloomington news video about the 2018 project to improve water quality in Normandale Lake.
Normandale Lake averages only about three feet deep, so plants grow throughout it, and visitors often complain about algae and odor. The invasive curly-leaf pondweed crowds out other plants. To fight it, the City and the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District planned to draw the lake down in the fall so the pondweed would freeze over the winter, let spring snowmelt refill the lake, and then treat the remaining pondweed with herbicide.
The video also covers effects on visitors and wildlife: at least one lane of the trail would stay open, the drawdown would start in mid-August so turtles had time to leave, fencing would steer turtles away from roads, and fish would survive in the channel of Nine Mile Creek that remains. The goals are less phosphorus and less curly-leaf pondweed, which should mean less algae and odor. Viewers are encouraged to help by adopting a storm drain at adopt-a-drain.org.