Stream Water Quality Monitoring
The Anoka Conservation District monitors stream water quality on most major streams in the county, as well as some of their tributaries including ditches. The purpose of this program is to detect and diagnose water quality problems that may affect recreation, people or wildlife. We place a particular emphasis on monitoring streams that flow into major recreational lakes or rivers. We monitor most streams every 3-6 years, maintaining a rotation such that all of our highest priority waterways receive regular attention. Each monitored stream is tested eight times in a given year. Four of these are during baseflow water levels and four are during or just after storms or >1 inches of rain in less than 24 hours.
The following parameters are tested for each stream or river:
- pH
- Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
- Turbidity
- Conductivity
- Temperature
- Salinity
- Total Phosphorus (TP)
- Chlorides
- Total Suspended Solids
- Others as specifically needed
pH, DO, turbidity, conductivity, temperature, salinity and temperature were measured using the Horiba Water CheckerŪ U-10 multi-probe. Total phosphorus (TP), chlorides, and total suspended solids are analyzed by an independent laboratory (Braun Intertec). The laboratory provides sample bottles, complete with preservative (H2SO4) for TP analysis. These water samples are kept on ice and delivered to the laboratory within 24 hours. For more information on what these chemical parameters mean, view the ACD's Stream Water Quality Question and Answer sheet (link below).
In total, we have sampled 51 sites on 30 different streams, rivers, and ditches since 1998. Funding for this work comes from watershed districts, watershed management organizations, grants, and in-kind support from the Anoka Conservation District. Recent stream water quality monitoring includes:
| Year | Stream or River | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Cedar Creek | Hwy 9 , Oak Grove |
| Cedar Creek | Sims Rd, East Bethel | |
| Cedar Creek | Fawn Lk Dr., East Bethel | |
| Trott Brook | Hwy 5, Ramsey | |
| Data Creek (Typo Lake Inlet) | Typo Creek Dr , Isanti County | |
| Sunrise River | Hwy 77, Linwood Township | |
| Coon Creek | Coon Hollow, Coon Rapids | |
| Pleasure Creek | 86th Ave, Coon Rapids | |
| Rum River | Anoka Dam, Anoka | |
| 2005 | Coon Creek | Coon Creek Hollow, Coon Rapids |
| Rum River | Anoka Dam, Anoka | |
| 2004 | Rum River | Hwy 24, St. Francis |
| Hwy 7, Ramsey | ||
| Anoka Dam, Anoka | ||
| Ditch 18 | Hwy 24, St. Francis | |
| Hwy 9, Oak Grove | ||
| 2003 | Ford Brook | Hwy 63, Ramsey |
| Trott Brook | Hwy 5, Ramsey | |
| Springbrook | Inlet 3 of Springbrook Nature Center, Fridley | |
| Rum River | Anoka Dam, Anoka | |
| Ditch 67 | Viking Blvd, East Bethel | |
| Ditch 56 (Coon Lake Inlet) | Viking Blvd, East Bethel | |
| Boot Lake Inlet | Viking Blvd, East Bethel | |
| Sunrise River | Hwy 77, Linwood Township | |
| South Inlet to Martin Lake | Martin Lake Dr , Linwood Township | |
| North Inlet to Martin Lake (Typo Creek) | Typo Creek Dr , Linwood Township | |
| Judicial Ditch 2 | Typo Creek Dr , Linwood Township | |
| Ditch 13 | Hwy 20, Isanti County | |
| Unnamed Tributary to Ditch 13 | Near Hwy 20, Isanti County | |
| Unnamed Tributary to Ditch 13 | Near Hwy 20, Isanti County | |
| Ditch 20 | Private Property west of Schubring Wildlife Mgmt Area, Isanti County | |
| Data Creek (Typo Lake Inlet) | Typo Creek Dr , Isanti County |
This website is a good place for specific water quality information, but you should also check other sources. The same body of water is never monitored by two different agencies at the same time, but monitoring responsibility may have transferred from agency to agency at some time in the past, or limited volunteer data may be available for years when the ACD was not monitoring. After searching this website, the other best source of water quality data is the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's website.
To view or download raw data about a particular stream from this website, use our Data Access tool. To read the latest narrative summary for a particular stream, use the links to "Related Information on ANR.com" and use the table of contents. To see the locations of the monitoring sites, use the mapping utility and check the "monitor sites" box.