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CT'T'I' OF SfT®~EVIEW CITY COUNCIL <br /> Sandy Martin, Mayor <br />4600 North Victoria Street, Shoreview, MN 55126 Blake Huffman <br />(651) 490-4600 (651} 490-4699 Fax Tom Landwehr <br />651 490-4750 Voice/TTY <br />( } Mady Reiter <br /> Ady Wickstrom <br />Dear Shoreview Resident: <br />How is Lake Owasso doing? Has the quality of the Lake been improving over time or is it getting <br />worse? How does Lake Owasso compare to other lakes in Shoreview? These are questions that <br />Shoreview residents often have. I would like to share information with you to help answer these <br />questions and let you know what you can do to improve the quality of Lake Owasso. <br />Overall, Lake Owasso is showing a significant improving trend according to Bruce Wilson, <br />environmental research scientist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. This is based on <br />an ana .~~: a of phosphorus data and lake transparency data collected by citizen volunteers and <br />Lake s:.~ Gists. Attached are plots of Lake Owasso showing the average transparency and <br />phosphorous values for each year that data was available over the last 24 years. Only lakes with <br />four or more years of data were assessed. <br />This is how Lake Owasso compares with other Shoreview lakes.* <br />Lake dVater Quality <br />Trend <br />Owasso Highly significant <br />improving <br />Turtle No trend <br />Snail Significant improving <br />Grass Not enough data (one <br />year) <br />Wabasso No trend <br />Lake dVater Quality <br /> 'T'rend <br />Island North Highly significant <br /> improving <br />Island South Somewhat significant <br /> - weak improving <br />Emily No trend, negative <br /> (degrading possible?) <br />Judy Not enough data <br /> (three years) <br />If you are interested in more detailed ilnformation about the lake trend analyses, contact Todd Howard, City of <br />Shoreview at 490-4652 or visit the Shoreview web page at W`h/W.CLSHOREVIEW.MIti.IJS. <br />This analysis seems encouraging -overall it seems our lakes are improving. T-Iowever, this <br />improving trend could turn into a degrading trend if we are not careful. In very recent <br />years, Shoreview has seen a surge in development of the remaining vacant lands and this will <br />mean more fertilizers, pesticides, and road and parking lot runoff entering into our lakes. Nearly <br />all storm water runoff from roads, parking lots, and lawns directly enters our lakes. Also, lake <br />recreational usage has increased which means more pollutants from watercraft. These factors, <br />plus others, negatively affect the quality of our lakes and we must take measures now to counter <br />their impact. <br />