Fountain Lake Restoration Project
Hearing Talking Points
Sen. Sparks:
 You have a fact sheet and a packet of letters of support in your packets.
 HF271/SF200 is a $7.5 million request for the restoration of Fountain Lake; and will
be matched with $7.5 million from the local option sales tax, for a total project of
$15 million.
 This project has the strong support of our community, there are letters of support in
your packets from the city, business and community leaders – and with us today
Susie Peterson, Executive Director of the Convention and Visitor Bureau and Randy
Kehr, Executive Director of the Albert Lea – Freeborn County Chamber of
Commerce.
 Fountain Lake is located in the heart of the city of Albert Lea and is the main
attraction to the city’s central park and is central to Albert Lea’s economy and
quality of life.
 It is key to the region’s tourism industry and a gateway community to Minnesota
from Iowa.
 The state has already made significant investments ($6.95 million) in the water
quality of Fountain Lake through the clean up of the Edgewater Dump.
 The state also approved a local option sales tax, which the voter’s overwhelmingly
supported, that is targeted toward clean water.
 This is not a new project this year. The Senate Capital Investment Committee has
toured the area twice and we’ve had hearings in previous years; but have not yet
received state support.
 This project is the next phase of decades long efforts at restoring and enhancing the
water quality of Fountain Lake. It is a part of a systematic, multi-faceted effort to
restore Fountain Lake.
 Fountain Lake has been hampered by large amounts of sediment from land use
upstream and stream bank erosion. While the watershed, city and other local
partners have been aggressively addressing this issue through other methods the
next step is to remove some of the accumulated sediment from the lake.
 State funding for this project will benefit the state through increased tourism
spending, strengthening the economy of southern Minnesota and helping to attract
businesses to the city of Albert Lea.
 For Albert Lea, lake restoration and clean water is our economic development
strategy.
 Restoring water quality to Fountain Lake will also enhance the water quality of
Albert Lea Lake that is part of a multi-million dollar federal, state and local
partnership to clean up and restore our lakes for fishing, habitat, recreation and
water quality.
 The project is ready to go this year and is a multi-year effort. The watershed is
moving ahead with preliminary engineering for the project and but need a
partnership with the state to fund final design, permitting, land acquisition, and
sediment removal and disposal.
Andy:
 Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members, my name is Andy Henschel and I am the Project
Manager for the Shell Rock River Watershed District.
 Fountain Lake is 555 acres and has a tributary watershed of approximately 63,000
acres, which consists primarily of agricultural land.
 Runoff from the upstream watershed includes sediment and pollutants such as
phosphorous, which are conveyed to the lake through streams, ditches, and storm
sewer pipes. Historically, large deposits of sediment and phosphorus in the lake
have hampered the lake’s water quality.
 Comprehensive efforts have been underway for a number of years to address
improvements to Fountain Lake.
 Filer strips have been installed on 345 miles of public ditches; 10 grassed waterways
have been installed on private lands; utilizing RIM, CRP, WRP and CREP to take
marginal agricultural lands adjacent to waterways out of production; rock inlets have
been installed, nutrient management systems put into place, water and sediment
basins installed, grazing systems developed, rough fish management practices have
reduced the impacts of carp in upstream lakes, fish barriers installed at four
locations throughout the watershed, septic system inspection and replacement
program initiated, completed streambank and ditch restoration projects upstream
and the use of rain gardens to slow runoff.
 Everything that can be done to improve Fountain Lake’s water quality is being done.
The remaining source of phosphorous in the lake is internal loading from the
accumulated sediment.
 But additional improvements are needed to meet state standards and reduce
internal sediment loading.
 This project will remove approximately 1 million cubic yards of accumulated
sediment.
 Estimated total cost of $15 million, half the project will be funded through the local
option sales tax.
 This project is ready to go this year and is a multi-year effort. The watershed has
begun preliminary engineering for the project and it is ready to move into final
design, permitting, land acquisition, and dredging.
Potential Questions:
Why can’t you use the local option sales tax to fund the whole project?
 The local option sales tax has been used aggressively to leverage outside funding.
 To date, the local option sales tax has generated $5.9 million and leveraged $4.6
million in outside funding – a 78% match!
 Using the local option sales tax to fund the whole project would diminish
opportunities to leverage other state and federal funds and the ability to complete
other significant, multi-year, projects to clean up and restore the areas lakes, rivers
and streams.
Why don’t you use Clean Water Funds for this purpose?
 Seems like a logical source of funds, until you look into it, which we did.
 Existing FY12-13 Clean Water Fund appropriations have been targeted toward
specific grants and programs.
 Existing grant programs do not have the capacity to fund a project of this size and
scope.
 BWSR’s existing competitive grant programs in FY10/11/12 had $123,896,895 in
project requests with only $41,610,518 to allocate.
 Utilizing Clean Water Funds would delay the project by at least a year and we
believe would meet resistance by clean water advocates.
 Bonding is the best funding option for an effort of this size.
Why is this project of statewide significance?
 It is key to the region’s tourism industry and a gateway community to Minnesota
from Iowa.
 The state has already made significant investments ($6.1 million) in the water
quality of Fountain Lake through the clean up of the Edgewater Dump.
 The state also approved a local option sales tax, which the voter’s overwhelmingly
supported, that is targeted toward clean water.
 State funding for this project will benefit the state through increased tourism
spending, strengthening the economy of southern Minnesota and helping to attract
businesses to the city of Albert Lea.
Can you phase the project?
 Yes, we believe we can. We are finalizing those options this week and would be
happy to share them with you, Mr. Chair.