Water quality closures at Lake Hiawatha
Using data collected from MPRB Water Resources reports, we analyzed all beach closures at MPRB-managed beaches for the time period of 2016 through 2020. Guess what? The beach at Lake Hiawatha is closed far more often than any other beach in Minneapolis.
Between 2016-2020, Hiawatha Beach was closed a total of 145 days over 9 separate closures. During those four years, beaches were open a total of 449 days—145 days represents 32% of that total.
Lake Hiawatha is closed due to water quality impairment one third of the time.
Hiawatha suffers far longer closures than any other beach. The next highest total (Bde Maka Ska 32nd St) is 76 days, half that of Hiawatha. The median length of beach closures is 19.5 days, one seventh that of Hiawatha.
Most beach closures are due to elevated levels of E. coli bacteria, since that is the pathogen MPRB routinely tests for. E. coli is used as an “indicator organism” for contaminated water, since it would be too difficult to test for every possible pathogen that might be present in polluted lake water.
Potential sources of E. coli in lake water include:
foreshore beach sand
organic debris
leaking diapers, bather defecation
polluted stormwater runoff
sewage spills near the beach
sewer line break discharges
stream inflows
shoreline bank erosion
wild and domestic animal waste (such as geese, gulls, raccoons, dogs, etc.)
Health equity is not two-thirds of a lake
“Lake Hiawatha is the nearest lake to our primarily BIPOC neighborhood. It is a place where we can enjoy everything a lake has to offer on a hot summer day. However, the pollution that inflicts Lake Hiawatha makes it unsafe to visit far too many days per summer.”
East Phillips Improvement Coalition, letter to MPRB
“Native kids in South Minneapolis have the worst health outcomes in the entire state of Minnesota, if not the nation. I know because I look at the data every single day of my work. Save our lake, give them a place to play out in the green space. It’s the most important thing you could possibly do for their health.”
Dr. Antony Stately, speech to MPRB