Stream Water Quality Monitoring is Underway!

Photo: ACD staff taking the secchi reading of a ditch within the Coon Creek Watershed

ACD has been out in the field, monitoring the water quality and water quantity of Anoka County's streams and rivers. Stream water quality monitoring is conducted to detect and diagnose water quality problems that impact the ecological integrity of waterways, recreation, and human health. Since many streams systems are connected to lakes, water quality in streams is often studied as part of lake management. Hydrology is the study of water quantity and movement. Knowledge regarding the amount of water flowing in a stream helps engineers and natural resource professionals understand the effects of rain events, land development, and stormwater management. This information is often paired with water quality monitoring and used to calculate pollutant loadings, which are used in computer models and water pollution regulatory determinations.

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Water resource monitoring is underway in 2025!

ACD staff is working hard to install monitoring equipment this spring so that it can begin to capture water quality and quantity data from Anoka County’s lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and groundwater resources. 
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Well Sealing Grants Now Available!

For more information contact Kris Larson, Water Resource Specialist, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

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Grant for Targeted Sealing of Unused Wells is Underway

Anoka County residents will benefit from a new $70,000 clean water grant that will provide assistance to seal unused wells to protect groundwater resources from contamination. This grant is an extension of ACD's current well-sealing program which has made great progress over the past four years. The proposed grant will enable ACD to seal up to an additional 30 unused wells, targeting those within DWSMAs and deep wells intersecting multiple aquifers. 

If you have an old well that you no longer use, you may be eligible for cost-share funding to seal it! Unused wells could be direct conduits for pollution to reach our drinking water supply, so it is important to have unused wells sealed by a professional. Learn more about the program and see if you qualify here: www.anokaswcd.org/well-sealing.html. For more information contact Kris Larson, Water Resource Specialist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Additional 2024 Achievements!

ACD delivered on a MPCA administered Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund SSTS fix-up grant. ACD has an ongoing low-income SSTS fix-up program and was able to leverage these funds to help replace 10 failing septic systems in Anoka County. Photo: Map of Anoka County showing locations of SSTS fix-up projects.
ACD established a well sealing cost-share program, using a FY20 Clean Water Fund (CWF) grant. ACD worked with hundreds of landowners, promoting and educating on well sealing, resulting in the sealing of 64 high-priority unused wells. Photo: Map of Anoka County showing locations of well sealing projects. 
ACD completed a county wide buffer inventory using new 2024 ariel images. ACD staff will continue to work with Anoka County residents in 2025, to ensure the buffer law is implemented. Photo: Example profile of a river and the vegetative buffers in the riparian zone that treat stormwater runoff before it enters the waterbody.
ACD, Conservation Corps MN & Iowa (CCMI), and Anoka County Parks, delivered on a Clean Partners Legacy grant to install 2,933 feet of cedar tree revetments on the Rum River. Photo: ACD staff and CCMI crew installing a cedar revetment.
While 2024 was a fruitful year for project installation, it was also filled with behind-the-scenes planning setting the stage for exciting future work. Amongst these efforts was the identification of priority sites for holistic fish and wildlife habitat restoration projects throughout the Rum River Corridor; part of collaborative effort with a multi-phase Outdoor Heritage Fund grant, this will benefit several acres of wetland and riparian habitat and hundreds of linear feet of riverbank and in-stream habitat. Keep an eye out for projects resulting from these and many other exciting planning efforts that occurred in 2024! Photo: 6 acres of ditched wetland dominated by invasive species to be restored in 2025.
2024 also brought the completion of three Subwatershed/ Stormwater Retrofit Analyses covering both urban and rural priority watersheds in the county. Through these, we have new ‘playbooks’ to reference while pursuing the most cost-effective water quality improvement projects benefiting the Rum and Mississippi Rivers.
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