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BEMIDJI -- A project meant to protect Lake Irving from phosphorus is expected to be finished early next month.

The Beltrami County Soil and Water Conservation District announced this week that a $490,000 stormwater project is nearing completion. The project includes installing an iron-enhanced sand filter and creating a ditch that collects stormwater runoff from an 886-acre drainage area, which includes the Bemidji Industrial Park.

To cover the project, the SWCD partnered with the city of Bemidji, the Mississippi Headwaters Board of Water and Soil Resources and Enbridge. Financially, Enbridge contributed $50,000, and the project also utilized a $156,000 Clean Water Fund grant.

The city also contributed $300,000 for the project. As part of its contribution, the city requested the ditch portion have native grasses, forbs and shrubs throughout the site. The plants are expected to both improve the site's aesthetics and act as a pollinator habitat.

For its portion, the city is utilizing its stormwater fund. Once finished, the city will own the treatment system and maintain it.

Protecting Lake Irving has been a subject under consideration for the project partners for nearly four years, and the project was authorized in spring. The lake is considered an impaired body of water for nutrients because it has high levels of phosphorus.

Additionally, the levels of phosphorus in Lake Bemidji are nearing impaired status.

The project was needed as the city's existing stormwater ponds weren't enough to cut phosphorus loading into Lake Irving at a reduction rate set by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Once finished, the project will keep an estimated 233 pounds of phosphorus out of Lake Irving annually.

"What we're trying to do here is reduce as much of the negative impact from human use around the lake as possible," said Zach Gutknecht, Beltrami SWCD clean water specialist.

Water from the new ditch will enter a stormwater wetland. There, sediment-bound phosphorus will settle out. Additionally, dissolved phosphorus will be stripped from runoff as it flows through the filter to Lake Irving.

The effort is meant to not only guard the lake but other water bodies as well.

"Bemidji is the first city on the Mississippi, so stormwater treatment is very important," Bemidji Public Works Director Craig Gray said. "Our city is on Lake Bemidji and Lake Irving and the Mississippi River. Without those three bodies of water, we really don't have a city. The water quality of those bodies of water is very, very important to us, so we really try to do whatever we can to reduce any nutrient loading going into those lakes and rivers."

Tim Terrill, executive director of the Mississippi Headwaters Board, also said the project is important for communities downstream from the river.

"We're doing a service not just to the people that live there, but everyone downstream," Terrill said. "The Mississippi is used for drinking water in the Twin Cities. The Mississippi isn't just a river that has recreational value. It has a very important drinking water component to it."

1/4: An iron enhanced sand filter is part of the Beltrami County SWCD’s Clean Water Fund-backed stormwater project designed to improve the water quality of nutrient-impaired Lake Irving, which flows into Lake Bemidji and then the Mississippi River. Pictured from left: Zach Gutknecht, Beltrami County SWCD clean water specialist; Tim Terrill, executive director of the Mississippi Headwaters Board; Shawn Tracy, HR Green lead scientist; and Chad Severts, BWSR board conservationist. (Courtesy / Ann Wessel)

2/4: An iron enhanced sand filter is part of the Beltrami County SWCD’s Clean Water Fund-backed stormwater project designed to improve the water quality of nutrient-impaired Lake Irving, which flows into Lake Bemidji and then the Mississippi River. Project partners include the city of Bemidji, the Mississippi Headwaters Board and Enbridge. (Courtesy / Ann Wessel)

3/4: The Lake Irving ditch is being re-meandered to look and function more like a stream. It’s part of the Beltrami County SWCD’s Clean Water Fund-backed stormwater treatment project designed to benefit nutrient-impaired Lake Irving, which flows to Lake Bemidji. Construction was underway in this photo taken on Sept. 9 in Bemidji. (Courtesy / Ann Wessel)

4/4: From left: Zach Gutknecht, Beltrami County SWCD clean water specialist, visits the construction site of a stormwater treatment project on Sept. 9 in Bemidji with Shawn Tracy, HR Green lead scientist, and Chad Severts, BWSR board conservationist. The project is designed to improve the water quality of nutrient-impaired Lake Irving and protect the water quality of Lake Bemidji. The Mississippi River flows through both lakes. (Courtesy / Ann Wessel)