Pine County Board Approves Water Testing for Rock Lake and Rock Creek

The Pine County Board approved an agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to begin testing water quality on Rock Lake and Rock Creek near Pine City.

County Land and Resource Manager Caleb Anderson told WCMP that both Rock Lake and Rock Creek are listed as impaired waters - Rock Lake is impaired for nutrients and Rock Creek is impaired for Ecoli.

During the Board Meeting on August 2, Board Chair Steve Hallan said this would help solve some of the guesswork behind the problems those bodies of water are having.

The MPCA collects surface water quality from lakes and rivers on a 10-year cycle. The data will be used by the MPCA to conduct a Total Maximum Daily Load study for the lake.

Anderson says that these issues facing Rock Lake and Rock Creek are not unique to Pine County, and this process will help with the restoration of the Lower St. Croix Watershed.

Photo taken from the MPCA Impaired Waters Map