Balsam Lake Protection & Rehabilitation District
Rice Creek Sedimentatin Basin
The Balsam Lake Protection & Rehabilitation District (PRD) purchased 80 acres of farm land (named Balsam Acres) along Rice Creek in 1995 with assistance from a DNR Lake Protection Grant. The property was purchased to facilitate removal of a barnyard from the shore of the creek to stop manure spreading near the creek and to obtain control of the creek running out of Rice Lake for future treatments. Rice Creek flows out of Rice Lake and into Balsam Lake. Rice Lake is a very shallow, highly eutrophic lake which has received poorly treated sewage effluent from the Village of Milltown for many years in the past. In 1996 a study was made on how to further reduce nutrients from entering Balsam Lake from Rice Creek and it was determined that a sedimentation basin was the most feasible option to reduce phosphorus loading.

 

 

Sedimentation Basin Construction
The construction of the sedimentation basin was completed in 1999. The cost was $117,000 with 70% of the cost covered by a DNR Lake Protection Grant and 30% covered by the district. The basin covers 3.52 acres, which includes a 2.44 acre active sedimentation area that averages five feet deep and a 1.08 acre wetland bench that slopes from two to one foot. Emergent vegetation on the bench helps to slow the water flow as it enters the basin, thereby increasing sediment removal. The bench also provides habitat for waterfowl, wading birds, amphibians and furbearers.

Sedimentation Basin Testing
The basin was mapped and depths were recorded across 11 transects during July 1999. The mapping and depth measurements will allow the DNR to return periodically and measure how much sediment the basin has captured. When the sediment collected impairs the basin performance it will have to be removed. Determining how much phosphorus the basin has captured is done by analyzing samples of the sediment for phosphorus.


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