Entities work toward improving quality of Tuttle Lake watershed

by David Swartz - Managing Editor

The efforts to improve the water quality within the Tuttle Lake Watershed continued last Thursday as Seana Godbold and other officials hosted an outreach meeting.

Godbold, the Tuttle Lake watershed coordinator, said while attendance wasn't high, the meeting did produce results.

"It wasn't a huge audience, but the ones we had were very good," Godbold said.

She is part of a group of Iowa and Minnesota officials working together for better water quality.

The total watershed is 122,800 acres with only about 5 percent or 6,140 acres in Iowa.

"Even though we're only a small part of the watershed, it doesn't mean our effort don't help," said Godbold.

By working together, Minnesota and Iowa can bring together shared information and eventually implement a watershed management plan.

Godbold was quick to say money designed for Minnesota will still be used in Minnesota and Iowa funds in Iowa.

"But we need to show the whole watershed is working together.

In a powerpoint presentation, Godbold shows Tuttle Lake was added to the impaired water list in 2002 for its turbidity and algae.

According to Godbold, several tests have been done.

"There's an imbalance of nitrogen and phosphorous in the water that creates algal blooms-a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system," she said.

Godbold said there are several things landowners can do to help the watershed-including restoring wetlands, conservation tillage and cover crops.

She said there are currently grants to help landowners do some of those things.

While it won't happen overnight, improving the water quality at Tuttle Lake, and by extension the East Fork of the Des Moines River, will benefit the environment.