Lake Assessment Program - Lake Florida, Kandiyohi County

Lake F1orida is located in Kandiyohi County. It has a surface area of 696 acres and a mean depth of 20 feet. Its immediate (direct) watershed is about 2 sq. mi. Land use in the watershed is characterized primarily by pasture and open (38 percent), water and marsh (23 percent), and urban (22 percent) uses. These percentages for pasture and urban uses are sIightly above typical percentages for lake watersheds in this region of the state - North Central Hardwood Forests ecoregion. In addition to this watershed, the lake periodically receives runoff from the Shakopee Creek watershed which originates near Norway Lake. This was the result of a diversion of Shakopee Creek into the Iake in 1958. This diversion was subsequently reversed in 1970, however, runoff from Shakopee Creek will flow over the Lake Florida outlet dam if water levels in the creek are high. Lake Florida was sampled during the summer of 1997 by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) staff and citizens from the Lake Florida Association (Association). Because of its shallowness Lake Florida does not thermally stratify during the summer and hence it is referred to as polymictic." Water quality data collected during the study reveal summer-mean total phosphorus (TP) concentration of 20 ug/L