Latest news with #MinnesotaDNR
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Minnesota works to replenish lake level after draining from mechanical failure
Minnesota officials are working to restore water to one of the state's lakes after 'a mechanical failure of the water control structure' there caused it to drain significantly over the weekend. In a statement on Monday, the Minnesota department of natural resources (DNR) said that it was responding to the issue at Lake Alice in William O'Brien state park while noting that the malfunction in question had resulted in a 'significant drawdown of the lake level'. The department as of Monday said that 'only a stream remains on Lake Alice at this time' and warned visitors that water recreation on the lake would probably be affected for 'at least four to six weeks'. The lake's swimming beach is not currently usable, and the drawdown has 'caused a fish kill in the lake', officials added. Lake Alice is typically 9ft (2.7 meters) deep and spans 26 acres (10 hectares), according to the DNR's website. In a Monday afternoon update on social media, officials with Minnesota state parks and trails said that Lake Alice was 'spring-fed lake with an earthen dike that holds water back', and it had a 65-year-old water concrete control structure that 'can be manually operated to manage lake levels by allowing water to flow out into the St Croix River'. 'Due to heavy precipitation last month, water levels on Lake Alice were steadily increasing,' said the statement from officials. The statement added that when water levels became 'high enough that water was flowing over the dike between the lake and the St Croix River, DNR staff opened the water control structure's valve to release excess water from Lake Alice'. 'Upon attempting to close the valve over the weekend, staff discovered the control structure closure mechanism had failed and was stuck open, which has caused the lake to drain,' the statement continued. The statement said staff had since been working to resolve the issue, but a 'timeline for restoring lake levels is not known yet'.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Climate
- The Independent
‘I just don't know how it happens': Minnesota lake nearly entirely drained after ‘mechanical issue'
A lake near the Twin Cities has reportedly been completely drained due to a "mechanical issue." Local officials are working to restore Alice Lake in William O'Brien State Park back to its typical depth of nine-feet deep after it was accidentally drained. Recent rainstorms in the area flooded the lake, causing its waters to spill over into the nearby St Croix River. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources workers opened a valve allowing some of the excess water to flow out, but that valve was left open and nearly the entire lake drained. "When the water level was back to what it should be, the staff attempted to close that valve, but the mechanism that closes that valve was not functioning, and the valve could not be closed," Sara Berhow of the state's Parks & Trails agency told CBS News. Berhow said that state workers are fixing the water control structure that malfunctioned and will restore the lake to its previous state. "Once the valve is able to be closed again, the streams will replenish the water in the lakes, so it will naturally come back to the level," she said. According to the state's Parks and Trails department, once the valve has been repaired it will take approximately a month before the lake returns to normal levels. Seeing the lake in its current state — empty — was a shock to local residents. "It's crazy, for this to happen, I just don't know how it happens," one resident, Dane Zierman, told the broadcaster. "It's insane. You just start driving down, and you see all these weeds and there's just no water." Unfortunately, many of the lake's fish didn't survive the ordeal. When locals approach to shoreline, they are met with a field of dead fish where water once was. "As soon as you get on the dock, you just see all of these dead fish. There's some big guys in here, too, some big giant carp, some big northerns, it's just devastating," Zierman said.
New York Times
9 hours ago
- Climate
- New York Times
‘Only a Stream Remains': Minnesota Lake Is Drained After Valve Malfunction
A normally 9-foot-deep, 26-acre lake northeast of the Twin Cities is now mostly a dry lake bed, and nearly all of its fish have died, after a valve malfunctioned and caused water to drain out over the weekend. Park staff opened a valve last month at Alice Lake, a man-made lake and popular fishing destination in Minnesota's William O'Brien State Park, because heavy rain had caused water levels to rise. 'At that time, with the elevated lake level, water was beginning to overflow from the lake into the St. Croix River, raising erosion concerns,' the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said in a statement on Monday. The controlled draining is a routine procedure, officials said, and it had successfully addressed the erosion issue. On Saturday, park staff returned to close the valve. But they could not do so. 'We discovered the closure mechanism had failed, and the valve was stuck open,' officials said in the statement. This resulted in a 'near total water level drawdown.' Alice Lake is usually stocked with a variety of fish, including bluegill, black crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, yellow perch and bullhead, according to the department of natural resources. But nearly all of the fish in the lake have died, and state officials said that it would take at least one month for the water to be restored. Many park visitors over the weekend and on Monday were seen carrying dying fish out of the remaining shallow water to try to move them to the St. Croix River, about 50 feet away. It is unclear how many were saved, but officials referred to a 'fish kill' in the lake, meaning that most of them had died. Lake Alice was created in the early 1960s as a children's fishing pond, because the nearby St. Croix River had currents and steep banks that were not safe for children. The lake's source is groundwater. Officials said that they would offer a preliminary assessment by the end of this week and a timeline. 'Visitors should be aware,' the park said on its website, 'that only a stream remains on Lake Alice at this time.'
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Minnesota works to replenish lake level after draining from mechanical failure
Minnesota officials are working to restore water to one of the state's lakes after 'a mechanical failure of the water control structure' there caused it to drain significantly over the weekend. In a statement on Monday, the Minnesota department of natural resources (DNR) said that it was responding to the issue at Lake Alice in William O'Brien state park while noting that the malfunction in question had resulted in a 'significant drawdown of the lake level'. The department as of Monday said that 'only a stream remains on Lake Alice at this time' and warned visitors that water recreation on the lake will likely be affected for 'at least four to six weeks'. The lake's swimming beach is not currently usable, and the drawdown has 'caused a fish kill in the lake', officials added. Lake Alice is typically 9ft (2.7 meters) deep and spans 26 acres (10 hectares), according to the DNR's website. In a Monday afternoon update on social media, officials with Minnesota said that Lake Alice is 'spring-fed lake with an earthen dike that holds water back', and it has a 65-year-old water concrete control structure that 'can be manually operated to manage lake levels by allowing water to flow out into the St Croix River'. 'Due to heavy precipitation last month, water levels on Lake Alice were steadily increasing,' said the statement from officials. The statement added that when water levels became 'high enough that water was flowing over the dike between the lake and the St Croix River, DNR staff opened the water control structure's valve to release excess water from Lake Alice'. 'Upon attempting to close the valve over the weekend, staff discovered the control structure closure mechanism had failed and was stuck open, which has caused the lake to drain,' the statement continued. The statement said staff had since been working to resolve the issue, but a 'timeline for restoring lake levels is not known yet'.
CBS News
6 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Don't expect Minnesota's "Summer Glory Index" to be high in 2025, climatologist says
The Summer Glory Index rates how great Minnesota's summer days are based on high and low temperatures and rain. There have been numerous heat waves this summer in the Twin Cities, plus a lot of humidity, severe storms and, of course, all the smoke. Kenny Blumenfeld, a climatologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, tracks these sorts of things. "Twenty-twenty-one, 2023 and this year are all kind of high in terms of the number of smoky days," Blumenfeld said. "So this is an unusually smoky summer, even in the context of the recent decade or so." Blumenfeld is also in charge of the Summer Glory Index, which gives the perfect summer day a score of 40. "So a 40-point day is one where the high temperatures in the 70s, low temperatures upper 50s to low 60s, the dew point temperature stays below 60 degrees and it doesn't rain," he said. He says records dating back to the 1900s don't keep track of smoke, so he can't factor that into the index, which would obviously really take the score down. But even without it, this summer has been below average. "So for the season so far, we're up a little over 1,000 points. So that puts us kind of in the lower third of recent summers," he said. When it comes to the rain though, some Minnesotans are fans. "This is the first time that I can remember, and I've lived out at my home for 15 years, that my grass wasn't brown," said Susan Gulbrandson. "In July, I had green grass."
