Lake in BWCA watershed among over 50 bodies of water labeled as ‘impaired’ by MPCA

Emily Baude KSTP

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) recently released its biennial draft of impaired waters in Minnesota — and a lake near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) made the list.

Birch Lake, a recreational lake in the Superior National Forest in the watershed of the BWCA and an official “wild rice lake”, and a portion of the Dunka River near Ely and Babbitt have been found to exceed Minnesota’s wild rice sulfate standard of 10 mg/L.

A spokesperson with the Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW) and the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters say they’ve been monitoring the waters of Birch Lake for over four years and “unequivocally” found that the lake exceeds state standards or sulfate, according to a news release from NMW.

The data from NMW — which they say is the most high-quality sulfate data for Birch Lake in the MPCA’s possession — makes up 90% of the water quality data on the lake in the MPCA’s database.

“Thank you to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Commissioner Kessler for following the scientific evidence and listing Birch Lake as an impaired waterbody,” stated Ingrid Lyons, Executive Director of NMW and the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, “NMW is a small but mighty group conducting professional-level scientific research that shined a light on the ignored pollution of Birch Lake. Thanks to my science team’s tireless water quality monitoring, we are one step closer to protecting the Boundary Waters once and for all.”

“NMW has built a rigorous monitoring program. It produces solid water quality data, which we share with the 1854 Treaty Authority, the EPA, and the State. The data reveal the serious mining pollution flowing into Birch Lake every day, and made the MPCA’s listing of Birch Lake as a wild rice water impaired for sulfate the correct and unavoidable decision,” stated Matt Norton, Director of Science and Policy at NMW and Save the Boundary Waters.

The MPCA’s list of impaired waters includes 20 new bodies of water impaired by sulfates, 13 of which are wild rice lakes and seven of which are streams. Sulfate is a naturally occurring chemical that can sometimes be found in discharges from mining activities, wastewater treatment plants, and industrial facilities, according to a spokesperson for the MPCA.

Sulfate negatively affects the growth of wild rice, a crop that is especially important to some Indigenous communities and tribal nations, the spokesperson for MPCA added.

Every two years, the federal Clean Water Act requires Minnesota officials to develop a list of impaired waters. Officials with NMW say if Birch Lake is recognized as impaired by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April, the Clean Water Act will be triggered and the state will be required to clean up and mitigate pollution.

In totality, the MPCA added 199 impairments over 54 bodies of water, bringing the total impairments in Minnesota to 6,349 impairments in 2,798 water bodies. However, 27 previous impairments were removed due to improving water quality, according to the MPCA.

Lake data trends from the MPCA officials showed that 31% of monitored lakes are improving in clarity and 9% are declining.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), otherwise known as “forever chemicals,” are still being found in a number of lakes around the state, the MPCA said. Two bodies of water in Duluth and Crystal Lake in Robbinsdale were added to MPCA’s list due to high levels of a type of forever chemical that can accumulate in fish and have adverse effects on humans when consumed.

The impaired waters list will be available Nov. 14 until Jan. 12 for public comment.

For the complete list and information on how to comment, please visit the MPCA website.