Water Quality Improvement Project Opportunities Identified in Ford Brook Watershed
Ford Brook is a stream tributary to the Rum River draining over 24,000 acres of rural lands in northwestern Anoka County. Nutrient concentrations in Ford Brook regularly exceed state standards for impairment, thereby contributing to excess nutrient loading in the Rum River. Addressing this issue requires watershed-level analyses and an understanding of which best management practice (BMP) would provide the greatest benefit per dollar spent; ACD's Subwatershed Analysis ("SWA") approach does just this.
ACD has completed over 20 urban SWAs in order to strategically plan for BMPs such as stormwater ponds, rain gardens, and subsurface structures treating stormwater runoff. However, replicating this process in rural watersheds, dominated by agriculture, required different tools and techniques; ACD achieved this for the Ford Brook Watershed through the use of desktop analyses, targeted water quality monitoring, field surveys, and a new modeling tool called PTMApp.
As a result, over 250 candidate water quality improvement projects were sited within the Ford Brook Watershed. The majority of these are agricultural practices such as cover crops, no-till farming, grassed waterways, water and sediment control basins, and enhanced riparian buffers, but additional practices such as prescribed grazing, wetland restorations, and lakeshore stabilizations were also included. For each practice, anticipated costs and water quality benefits to Ford Brook were generated, and all findings are summarized in detail in the corresponding SWA report. This report will be a valuable asset as we pursue nutrient reduction goals in Ford Brook and, by extension, the Rum River. For more information contact Breanna Keith, Water Resource Specialist at
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