It's back: onetime mudhole White Bear Lake now threatens to overflow

[HD]

After years of "low tide," locals celebrate lake's rise.
By David Peterson



The north side of White Bear Lake, showing water beneath a dock that was extended far out onto the lake when it was at its lower stage.


White Bear Lake, the direst of mudholes within vivid memory, is now rising so high that it’s threatening to stream out through overflow pipes.

In fact, a county commissioner claims it already has. That can’t be confirmed, but officials overseeing the once-receding lake agree that, after a climb of several feet, it’s moving up fast amid all the rain and isn’t that far away from bubbling over.

The lake’s major beach, closed for eight years, is due to reopen in two weeks for at least shoreline wading. Docks once made to stretch hundreds of feet to reach water have been submerged. Marina slips that long stood empty above weedy sand now have big boats bobbing alongside them.

“I’m very excited about the fact that Mother Nature has helped us along here,” said Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt. “I’ve already taken the grandkids to the lake a couple of times.”

Legally, the matter has hardly gone away. After presiding over a weekslong trial that began in March, a Ramsey County district judge this summer is contemplating how to come down on the issue of who’s to blame for the lake’s long retreat.

Lead attorney Katie Crosby Lehmann, representing lakeshore owners and others accusing the state of standing by while a crisis developed, spoke of being unruffled by the lake’s comeback because the case was about a historical pattern of severe ebbs and flows “running decades into the future.”
The north side of White Bear Lake, where water is expanding under docks that were extended to reach the lake during the years it was at its lower stage.
The north side of White Bear Lake, where water is expanding under docks that were extended to reach the lake during the years it was at its lower stage.

But Bill Foussard, whose downtown White Bear Lake hotel and restaurant depend on summer tourists, is giddy even though he cringed when recent rainstorms forced him to close his rooftop eatery.

“The lake’s come up, I bet, five feet from its low point,” he said, “It’s incredible. It looks good. It’s exciting to have it back. When docks are underwater, it tells you something.”

Anne Kane, the city’s development director, arrived in town six years ago and lives five houses from the lake. “I came when it was at a very low level,” she said, “and I was accustomed on my walks to seeing 75 to 80 yards of lawn before you finally reached water. Boy, is it beautiful now.”

Daron Close opened a lakeshore restaurant called Acqua — Italian for water — at around that same time. There wasn’t much water to see. Now, he said, “people are raising their docks, it keeps raining, the entire water issue has subsided. … I grew up here and the marina has never looked as cool.”

When to open beach?

Issues persist over when to declare the lake’s big Ramsey County beach open for swimming and not just splashing about near shore. “I grew up here,” said Foussard, “and even when the water was down the beach was open.”

He complained that Ramsey County’s decision to wait until the lake reached 924 feet — a point it’s nearing — was unreasonable, given its significance for an entire community. “For us it’s always been, ‘See you at the beach,’ ” he said.

Reinhardt said the concern is safety, given the steep drop-off in the lake just off shore. “Even at the best of times, it has never been a real deep beach,” she said. “It’s a beach for the kids to play around in, more than for swimming.”

Heavy rains this spring have continued a long recovery that has the lake at a level unmatched in the past 11 years.

A few days ago, Washington County Commissioner Fran Miron told his colleagues during their weekly meeting that White Bear Lake is now so far back from the depths that it’s discharging from culverts meant to keep it from flooding people’s property.

State and watershed officials say they can’t say that hasn’t happened, but that the official water level isn’t quite high enough to reach outflow pipes.

One thing’s for sure: If the lake starts outflowing again, questions will arise as to whether, as one local puts it, those culverts should be “stuffed with concrete” rather than fool with Mother Nature and lose that water.

[Rebel SS]

My favorite ice fishing spot from years ago......sure turned into a disaster. 

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[Gunner55]

We've been going home that way,Hwy 61, to go around the bridge work south of Hugo for most of the last year. It was weird, when we passed the big hotel right on the lake, seeing how low the water was. Marinas without any boats, 100' or or more long docks completely out of the water. We knew about it from reading all the articles in the Trib, but still a strange sight to me. Now they're worried about high water confused-3316.gif , kind of hard to believe the water levels can change that much & that quickly.

[LPS]

Ok so here is the deal with White Bear Lake.  AND THIS IS THE DEAL!!!  It is so obvious and common sense and that is what is usually not involved in most formulas.  I was the Water and Wastewater guy in Mahtomedi for years so I have some connection but I am not an expert.  That is on the east shore of White Bear Lake.  Every year we saw our wells drawdowns go down as other communities did during dry years.  The White Bear area has a tiny water shed so a lot of rain helps for a small amount of time.  A large part of the problem is the nice lawns and people and businesses using excess water during dry years.  This small water shed does not have lots of marshes and swamps that help to store water.  So using more water means using the Mahtomedi, Birchwood, White Bear Lake and Dellwood, community water supplies and private wells use more water.  They all come from the same aquifier that includes White Bear Lake.  DUH!!!   SO when people use less water due to more rain this small watershed recharges faster.  Of course the population is increasing in this wonderful area so that means more water is used and this small watershed has a hard time feeding water to the population there.  So it will take millions of dollars and may years of studies which is already happening to come up with the same conclusion that you have read right here from an average guy who used to work in the water field.  Thank you for reading this.  White Bear Lake is a great lake by the way.  I used to ice fish there too....

[HD]

Well said LPS....that's exactly my thoughts as well....I used to fish that lake back in the day, but no more.....  pouty-1023.gif

[DDSBYDAY]

  The homes on the North side of 244 just east of Ramsey beach were always for sale back in the high water days.   Their yards would be completely under water most of the time and unless they had a pool in their basements would be under water or wet.   They also had the longest beaches when the water dropped.  It will be interesting to see what kind of windmill effect the rising water level has on the property owners.