Elm Creek Watershed Management Commission Watershed Total Maximum Daily Load

This Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study addresses 22 impairments in the Elm Creek Watershed and 2 impairments in the Crow River Watershed, both of which are HUC-8 watersheds located in the upper Mississippi River Basin. Those in the Elm Creek Watershed include nutrient impairments in Fish Lake, Rice Lake, Diamond Lake, Goose Lake, and Henry Lake; Escherichia Coli (E. coli) bacteria impairments in Rush Creek-South Fork, Rush Creek mainstem, Diamond Creek, and Elm Creek; low dissolved oxygen (DO) impairments in Rush Creek mainstem, Diamond Creek, and Elm Creek; and both fish and Macroinvertebrate biotic integrity impairments for upper and lower reaches of the Rush Creek-South Fork, Rush Creek mainstem, Diamond Creek, and Elm Creek. The TMDL also includes nutrient impairments in Cowley Lake and Sylvan Lake in the Crow River Watershed. All impaired water bodies lay within the jurisdictional limits of the Elm Creek Watershed Management Commission (ECWMC), who partnered with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on this effort. The area within the jurisdictional limits of the ECWMC is about 83,600 acres (of which about 66,400 acres is the Elm Creek Watershed) and located in northwestern Hennepin County, Minnesota. The goal of this TMDL is to quantify the pollutant reductions needed to meet state water quality standards for the impaired lakes and streams. This TMDL is established in accordance with Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act and provides wasteload allocations (WLAs) and load allocations (LAs) for the water bodies included.