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FAIRMONT-- The Lakes Management Committee reconvened in Fairmont on Tuesday after not meeting for several months. Most notable on the agenda was the preliminary data of the lakes research project, provided by Dr. Ryan Wersal. The group also heard a recap of Curly Leaf Pondweed (CLP) efforts that took place over the summer.
The lakes research project is a joint effort by the city and Minnesota State University-Mankato graduate and undergraduate students.
Wersal said his crew has been down on the Fairmont Chain of Lakes once a week since May and plan to continue coming into October working on Curly Leaf Pondweed (CLP) and looking at and collecting baseline data on water quality.
He said Luke Thamert, the grad student working on the project, is in the process of compiling the data. Therefore he said everything he was sharing with the committee at Tuesday's meeting was very preliminary.
One other thing they're doing is looking at sediment phosphorus concentrations in the Fairmont chain of lakes.
"We've collected Curly Leaf Pondweed samples, core samples, sediment samples, we've collected plants growing in that sediment and we've collected water samples around those plants," Wersal explained.
He said this will allow them to look at the phosphorus partitioning within the water column, plants and sediment.
In looking at CLP, Wersal said they were able to work with the city's contractor, Premier Lake Harvesting, who was on the lakes this summer removing CLP.
"We know now how much curly leaf was harvested. We know where the phosphorus is, at least in these locations of the lake, so we can estimate how much phosphorus was removed per load and then extrapolate that per acre and whatever else," Wersal explained.
In studying the lakes over the warm summer months, Wersal said they found that in George, Budd and Sisseton, there's a lower level of dissolved oxygen.
"If it drops too low for too long, there is potential for fish kill," Wersal said. "It's something to be cognizant of."
Along with this, he pointed out, "Curly leaf is one component that plagues southern Minnesota lakes, the other is the water quality piece. Although they're linked, to address them they're kind of mutually exclusive in a way."
In finishing sharing the information he had, Wersal said that harvesting is removing biomass (CLP, etc.) and that they did notice a reduction of biomass. However, they see a very high density of blue-green algae and a population that increases significantly through the season.
"Total phosphorus, we have a lot of phosphorus," Wersal said.
City council member Wayne Hasek, who sits on the committee, asked if the phosphorus was coming from fertilizer run-off from farms and yards.
Wersal said typically it's pretty close to 50/50 for internal and external loading.
"To your point, there is a fair amount of nutrients coming in with run-off water from the watershed," Wersal said.
He added, "As I told Hannah (Neusch) when we analyzed the sediment for total phosphorus, I about fell out of my chair when I got those numbers because they were really high. These lakes have a historic loading of phosphorus and then that phosphorus also comes out of the sediment and that's where you get your internal loading."
He said it's going to be a two prong approach to address the matter when the city gets to that point.
Neusch, the water resources coordinator for the city, pointed out that one of the topics the group discussed last year was wakeboats and the role they play in sediment run-off into the lakes.
"Looking at these results from the team and knowing that our lakes are so shallow, that might be something that we want to reconsider. That would limit that phosphorus, at least it would stay encapsulated and wouldn't continue to be put back into the water column. How we fix it long-term would be a whole other story, but we could at least consider stop stirring it up," she said.
Neusch added that while they want people to come to the lakes and enjoy them, they also need to consider the water quality and how to improve it.
At the conclusion of Wersal's presentation, Neusch said, "I know we weren't really expecting good news from this study, but it is a little shocking to hear those high numbers, but at least now we know and we can see if we can do something about it."
However Wersal pointed out that's it's not out of the ordinary compared to other lakes in the region.
Switching to a different topic, Neusch provided an overview of the some of the CLP management tactics, starting with the CLP pick up and disposal that the city's contractor, Waters Edge, did over the summer months. This was just the second year the service has been offered for free to the lake property owners in the city.
Statistics provided said that 17.8 tons were removed in 2026, compared to 9.6 tons removed in 2025. In total 178 residents were served this year, compared to just 71 in 2025.
"The program is growing," Neusch said. "It's also becoming a bit more expensive."
She said that Waters Edge charges a certain amount of money based on the pickup location and that they increased their rates in the contract this year. In 2026, the city spent $10,220 on the service, compared to $2,835 in 2025.
"We did pick up significantly more bio material," Neusch said.
She also briefly spoke about the progress that Premier Lake Harvesting made while doing the mechanical harvesting of CLP in the lakes this summer. However she said she did not have total numbers from the company yet, but that they're expected to be presented to the city council at a meeting next month.
"It was a lot. I don't remember the numbers from when we talked informally, but it was a shocking number," Neusch said. "It was incredibly high."
She said the city is looking at whether they need to put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the service for this next year.
"If we're happy with their (Premier) work, they are interested in coming back and doing a multi-year contract if that's what council wants," Neusch said.
Jon Omvig, chair of the Fairmont Lakes Foundation and member of the committee, suggested that the harvesting start earlier in the spring in the future.
To close out the meeting, Jesse Walters with Martin Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) spoke about the near competition of the Cedar Creek Park Wetland restoration.