Two Harbors Council Calls for Special Meeting to Address Water Quality in Agate Bay

Last week, the Two Harbors City Coun­cil spent a significant part of their meeting talking about the via­bility of a plan by the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District, to build a state of the art storm­water drainage system along the Agate Bay waterfront. The sys­tem was approved by the Council several years ago and would filter and remove pol­lutants including hu­man E coli, pesticides and heavy metals from the waters of Ag­ate Bay. The plan has been four years in the making and the Lake County SWCD has secured grant funding from the Environmen­tal Protection Agency for $733,000, through an agreement orches­trated by the Minne­sota Pollution Control Agency. When built, the drainage system would include a sedi­ment collection struc­ture and biochar fil­tering ditch that will insure that water in Agate Bay doesn’t pose a health risk for locals and tourists who use the beach and the bay for swimming, boating and fishing. To put it plainly, this project is central to all the other projects that are part of the ongoing work to revitalize the Two Harbors water­front.

The Council, while recognizing the im­portance of dealing with the pollution problem in Agate Bay, was concerned about the possibility that the installation of the drainage system this year might bring about a financial lia­bility to the city if the drainage system had to be moved or altered to accommodate other waterfront develop­ment projects.

University of Minne­sota Landscape Archi­tect Kjerstin Duvall, who works around the State on grant funding for waterfront revital­ization projects, stated that the installation of the drainage system should not interfere with other projects that are being planned for the waterfront area. The new drainage sys­tem will be built on land that the current drainage system oc­cupies. That land ex­tends from to the end of Waterfront Street by the depot and runs along the beach to 3^rd street before emptying into Agate Bay. This parcel of land has been designated as a wetland and can not easily be incorporated into other projects that are being planned for the area. Jesse Martus, who works on grant funding for the Min­nesota Pollution Con­trol Agency, stated that taking advantage of the grant funding that has already been awarded may make it possible for the city to go back to the EPA and request more funding in the future if the sys­tem needs expansion.

Tara Solem, from the LCSWCD also spoke to the Council, explaining that the Minnesota Depart­ment of Health moni­tors the waters of Ag­ate Bay every week from May to Septem­ber so that the public can be warned when the waters aren’t safe. The beach has had to be closed twice this summer for a total of 10 days.

With the grant award, the design and construction of the drainage system will hopefully be in­stalled before the end of the year and will not cost the city any­thing. Upon learning that the installation of the drainage system will not impact other development projects that are underway, the Council voted unan­imously to give the Lake County SWCD the green light on moving forward with the drainage system.

The next regular meeting of the Two Harbors Council will be held on Monday, August 26th at 5:30 PM.