| Welcome to the Bassett Creek Watershed
Management Commission’s Web site. Here you can find general information
about the Bassett Creek Watershed and about the role of the Bassett Creek
Watershed Management Commission (BCWMC).
Map of Bassett
Creek Watershed
The Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission adopted its current
Watershed Management Plan
(the Plan) at its September
16, 2004 meeting. This "second generation" plan was prepared in
compliance with the provisions of the Minnesota Rules Chapter 8410, the
Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act, the Water Resources Management
Policy Plan, and other approved regional plans. The Plan was approved by
the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources on August 25, 2004.
The Plan sets the vision and guidelines for managing surface water
within the boundaries of the BCWMC.
The 2004 Watershed Management Plan
The adopted Watershed
Management Plan for the BCWMC sets the vision and guidelines for
managing surface water in the BCWMC.
The main goals of the BCWMC for 2005-2014 as
outlined in the plan are:
- Manage the water resources of the watershed, with
input from the public, so that the beneficial uses of wetlands, lakes
and streams remain available to the community.
- Improve the quality of stormwater runoff reaching
the Mississippi River by reducing the nonpoint source pollution
(including sediment) carried as stormwater runoff.
- Protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat and
maintain shoreland integrity.
- Reduce flooding along the Bassett Creek trunk
system.
- Protect human life, property, and surface water
systems that could be damaged by flood events.
- Regulate stormwater runoff discharges and volumes
to minimize flood problems, flood damages, and the future costs of
stormwater management systems.
- Provide leadership and assist member cities with
coordination of intercommunity stormwater runoff planning and design.
- Prevent erosion and sedimentation to the greatest
extent possible to protect the BCWMC’s water resources from
increased sediment loading and associated water quality problems.
- Implement soil protection and sedimentation
controls whenever necessary to maintain health, safety, and welfare.
- Implement stream restoration measures whenever
necessary to maintain health, safety, and welfare.
- Maintain or enhance the natural beauty and
wildlife habitat value of Bassett Creek.
- Achieve no net loss of wetlands in the BCWMC, in
conformance with the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act and associated
rules.
- Protect the quantity and quality of groundwater
resources.
- Manage public ditches in a manner that recognizes
their current use as urban drainage systems.
- Raise awareness of the watershed’s existence
and the role that the BCWMC plays in protecting water quality and
preserving the watershed’s health and aesthetics.
- Enable the target audiences to have confidence in
the BCWMC’s expertise and participate in a meaningful way in the
planning process and ongoing projects conducted by the BCWMC.
- Raise awareness of the impact that individuals,
businesses, and organizations have upon water quality and motivate
these audiences to change personal/corporate behavior that has a
negative impact on water quality and the watershed.
Member Municipalities
The nine municipalities represented by the
BCWMC include:
Crystal
Golden Valley
Medicine Lake
Minneapolis
Minnetonka
New Hope
Plymouth
Robbinsdale
St. Louis Park
Watershed
The Bassett Creek Watershed exceeds 40
square miles and is divided into four major subwatersheds:
Main Stem: the Main
Stem of Bassett Creek originates in Medicine Lake and generally flows east
through parts of Plymouth, Golden Valley and Minneapolis to the
Mississippi River.
Medicine Lake Branch:
the Medicine Lake Branch drains portions of Plymouth that discharge to
Plymouth Creek. Plymouth Creek originates in western Plymouth and
generally flows southeast through Plymouth to Medicine Lake.
North Branch: the
North Branch of Bassett Creek drains portions of northern Plymouth and
southern New Hope and Crystal and joins the Main Stem immediately upstream
of Highway 100.
Sweeney Lake Branch:
the Sweeney Lake Branch drains portions of northern St. Louis Park and
southern Golden Valley and joins the Main Stem in Theodore Wirth Park near
Golden Valley Road
Meetings
Regular meetings for the BCWMC are held at
11:30 a.m. at the Golden Valley City Offices, 7800 Golden Valley Road,
Golden Valley, MN, on the third Thursday of each month. A special notice
is sent out if a meeting is cancelled or rescheduled. All meeting notices
and cancellation notices are posted at the City of Golden Valley. The
fiscal year extends from February 1 through January 31.
BCWMC History
In 1969, the Bassett Creek Flood Control Commission was formed by adoption
of a Joint Powers Agreement between the nine communities in the Bassett
Creek Watershed. As required by the Joint Powers Agreement, the Bassett
Creek Flood Control Commission adopted the Watershed Management Plan for
Bassett Creek in February 1972.
In accordance with provisions of the 1982
Metropolitan Surface Water Management Act, the Bassett Creek Flood Control
Commission revised its Joint Powers Agreement and created the Bassett
Creek Watershed Management Commission. The Bassett Creek Watershed
Management Plan was prepared by the BCWMC in 1986 and adopted on
December 18, 1986. The plan was approved by the Minnesota Board of Water
and Soil Resources on July 26, 1989.
The original mission of the BCWMC was to control
flooding and to maintain and enhance the quality of the surface and ground
water resources in the watershed. Since then, most of the flooding
problems have been resolved by the BCWMC and member cities and the primary
emphasis of the BCWMC is currently improving surface water quality.
Partner with member communities in the management of surface and
groundwater for the benefit of citizens within the watershed and region.
Flood Control
Some of the more significant water quality
and flood control improvements completed by the BCWMC include:
- Completion of a new $28,000,000 tunnel to carry
Bassett Creek through Minneapolis to the Mississippi River. About
$10,000,000 was saved by constructing only one enlarged tunnel,
designed for several uses. The BCWMC also succeeded in obtaining
funding for 75% of the total project from the federal government and
other state agencies.
- Construction of ten channel crossing
improvements, five control structures and storage basins and removal
of a bridge along Bassett Creek.
- Replacement of the Medicine Lake dam and
construction of the Plymouth Creek fish barrier in Plymouth to improve
the quality of Medicine Lake.
- Completion of the Highway 55 control structure in
Minneapolis in June 1987, that prevented millions of dollars in flood
damages from the 1987 "Super Storm," which occurred one
month later.
- Floodproofing of several homes. The techniques
that were used have been recognized as state-of-the-art and have
become a model for floodproofing residential structures throughout the
country.
- Construction of the Wisconsin Avenue and Golden
Valley Country Club flood control structures in Golden Valley.
- Construction of the Bassett Creek Park flood
control and water quality project in Crystal.
Partnerships
In 1997, the BCWMC was awarded the Governor’s
Commendation at the Governor’s Partnership in Minnesota Conference. The
award was in recognition of the Bassett Creek Water Management Partnership
efforts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-St. Paul District, the
Minnesota Department of Transportation, the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources, the City of Crystal, and the BCWMC. This partnership
project involved the construction of a multi-purpose water management
system that the saved several hundred thousand dollars, while the project
improves water quality, controls floodwaters, and provides more open
space. This project is an example of the type of partnerships that the
BCWMC will continue in the implementation of its CIP.
Please contact
us with any questions or comments.
Thanks for visiting,
Michael Welch, Chair
Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission
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