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<br />9 <br /> <br />Watersheds <br />Little Canada is located in the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (RWMWD). The <br />RWMWD is the local governing unit established to protect the water resources located within its <br />District. The District includes the eastern portion of Ramsey County and the western portion of <br />Washington County totaling roughly 56 square miles. The RWMWD is part of the larger <br />Mississippi River Watershed as its surface water ultimately drains to the Mississippi River. The <br />District updated and passed their Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan in 2017. The City <br />abides by the RWMWD’s Management Plan. <br />The RWMWD Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan outlines the existing water resources, <br />issues within the District, and sets forth goals and policies for the District for the next ten years. <br />The main goals of the set forth by the Management Plan for the District are: <br /> <br />1. Achieve quality surface after <br /> <br />2. Achieve healthy ecosystems <br /> <br />3. Manage risk of flooding <br /> <br />4. Support sustainable groundwater <br /> <br />5. Inform and empower communities <br /> <br />6. Manage organization effectively <br /> <br />The City will continue to work with the RWMWD to help achieve the outlined goals. The Water <br />Resources Chapter provides further detail and policies of how Little Canada will work with the <br />RWMWD and improve and protect its water resources. <br />Lakes <br />The City of Little Canada contains a number of lakes and wetlands, and a stream. These water <br />resources play an integral role in the City’s water resource management by serving as retention <br />basins for stormwater runoff, providing natural filtration, and habitat. <br />In the late 1970s, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) performed a public <br />waters inventory to indicate which lakes, wetlands, and watercourses the DNR has regulatory <br />jurisdiction over. This created the Public Waters Inventory, which was updated in 2017. Lakes <br />identified as public are assigned a shoreland management classification to attribute appropriate <br />development standards to its many different types of lakes. Lakes are divided into the following <br />classifications based on a combination of factors: <br />Natural Environment Lakes usually have less than 150 total acres, less than 60 acres per mile of <br />shoreline, and less than three dwellings per mile of shoreline. They may have some winter kill of <br />fish; may have shallow, swamp shoreline; and are less than 15 feet deep.