East Vadnais Lake Subwatershed Resiliency Study

The East Vadnais Lake subwatershed provides essential resources to residents in Vadnais Lakes Area Watershed, the City of Vadnais Heights, and Ramsey County, ranging from vital retail and commercial centers to residential areas, parks, and recreation opportunities, to an important source of drinking water for the community. Vadnais Lake is used as the drinking water reservoir for approximately 450,000 customers in the Saint Paul area. As the subwatershed is impacted by climate change and changing precipitation patterns, identifying best management practices (BMPs) that will provide resiliency by enhancing the subwatershed’s ability to withstand and recover from the impacts of a changing climate while maintaining hydrological functions and protecting the subwatershed’s water resources and infrastructure is becoming more urgent.

SRF’s Water Resources team was retained by the Vadnais Lake Area Water Management Organization (VLAWMO), in partnership with Ramsey County, the City of Vadnais Heights, and Saint Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS), to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate opportunities to improve resiliency in the East Vadnais Lake subwatershed, including flood mitigation, water quality improvement, and drinking water source protection project opportunities, that expands on an existing Ramsey County flood feasibility study area in the City of Vadnais Heights.

Deliverables included existing conditions and multiple proposed conditions hydrologic and hydraulic models, flood and water quality modeling for evaluating flood risk and water quality improvement solutions in the subwatershed, conceptual designs, conceptual cost estimates for the design alternatives, and a final report summarizing the analysis and recommendations from the resiliency study.

Resource links:
Vadnais Lake Area Water Management Organization
City of Vadnais Heights
Saint Paul Regional Water Services
Ramsey County

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