Lake Meyer enhancement to begin this week

Major enhancement to protect and improve Lake Meyer is scheduled to begin this week. The work includes building a wetland with a grouted rock chute spillway in the headwaters of the lake on the northeastern shore and will involve drawing down the lake's water level. (file photo)

 

Lake Meyer enhancement to begin this week

 

 

Major enhancement to protect and improve Lake Meyer is scheduled to begin the week after Memorial Day. The work includes building a wetland with a grouted rock chute spillway in the headwaters of the lake on the northeastern shore and will involve drawing down the lake’s water level.

  Lake Meyer is a 32-acre lake located in the 160-acre Lake Meyer Park, just off Highway 24 between Calmar and Fort Atkinson. The lake was originally built in 1968 as a 37-acre lake, but sediment from the surrounding watershed over the past 40 years has decreased the lake’s size to 32 acres, and has decreased its volume from 165 acre-feet to 78 acre-feet. Lake Meyer has also been placed on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) 303(d) Impaired Waters List due to high concentrations of sediment and nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorous.

  The construction of the wetland and spillway will help mitigate sediment and nutrient flow into Lake Meyer through surrounding water sources; those water sources were identified in a comprehensive assessment of Lake Meyer’s watershed.

  In preparation for wetland and spillway construction, a series of catch basins have already been built on strategic points throughout the watershed. The plan is to funnel stormwater from urban runoff—water that flows across urban surfaces, picking up sediment and nutrients—into basins that impede the movement of sediment and nutrients. The basin structures act as traps during stormwater runoff events, slowing the movement of water and allowing sediment and attached nutrients a chance to settle out of the flowing water, preventing them from entering larger bodies of water.

With the basins complete, the next step in the progression of limiting sediment/nutrient loading in Lake Meyer is creating the wetland with a grouted rock chute spillway, to be placed at the head of Lake Meyer. When water flows into the wetland from the larger watershed, the wetland will act as a sponge, soaking up excess free nutrients and preventing approximately 80% of sediment from reaching the lake. The wetland, with its proposed 5-acre pool, will slow all but the largest influxes of storm water.

The installation of the wetland and spillway builds upon the Best Management Practices already undertaken throughout the watershed, including terraces, sediment basins, grass waterways, four grade stabilization or wetland structures targeted at urban drainages, and approximately three miles of filter strips.

 

Additional Work

  While the lake is lowered, a wide variety of fish habitat structures will be installed in the lake, including stake beds, fish cribs, and cedar tree/brush piles. These habitat structures will be installed at a variety of depths and in locations accessible by anglers fishing both from shore and boats. The location of each structure will be recorded and uploaded into the Iowa DNR’s online fishing atlas, available at www.iowadnr.gov/fishing.

The late-May drawdown is timed to occur after the primary spawning season for fish in Lake Meyer. This will limit the negative effects the drawdown will have on fish populations.

In addition to the wetland and habitat structures, several small fractures in the lake’s limestone shoreline will be sealed with bentonite, a type of clay. During the fall of 2014, several small sinkhole-like springs in the southern shore near the dam were discovered. Although the dam has never been in danger of failure, officials are taking the opportunity while the water is lowered to plug those holes with bentonite to help prevent future seepage.

  Lake users are cautioned that the exact water levels during the drawdown are not yet known and are likely to fluctuate. It is not likely that boats will be able to access the water from the eastern boat launch, nor will shore fishing be possible from the fishing jetty or the eastern/southeastern shorelines.

 

For more information on specific aspects of this project, please contact the following offices:

  • Rock Chute Spillway: Corey Meyer, Winneshiek County Soil and Water Conservation District, (563) 382-4352
  • Fish Habitat Structures: Michael Siepker, Fisheries Management Biologist, (563) 382-8324
  • Lake Meyer Park and Campground: Winneshiek County Conservation Board, (563) 534-7145

 

 

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