Effects of Wetlands on Quality of Runoff Entering Lakes in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota

Four wetlands were compared with respect to their effectiveness in decreasing suspended solids and nutrient concentrations in runoff to lakes immediately downstream from the wetlands. An artificial impoundment in one of the wetlands increased settling of suspended solids. A decrease of nutrients in this wetland was probably the result of high assimilation rates associated with a dense stand of cattails. Two of the other three wetlands consist of open water and land areas, both of which contain abundant vegetation. Drainage from land areas within the wetlands may have lowered the overall effectiveness of the wetlands in decreasing sediment and nutrient concentrations. The third wetland was a constructed wetland that was ineffective in decreasing sediment or nutrient concentrations, because its storage capacity was too small to prevent frequent flushing of accumulated sediment. Sediment concentrations in discharge from this wetland were as much as 22 times greater than the already high sediment concentrations in the inflow.