Bathymetry is the process of mapping the depths of a body of water. The data collected can be compiled into a topographic map or used in a number of other ways to help the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) chart water quality or other changes to a water body.

Water quality staff completed data collection for bathymetric mapping of Lake Wassermann and Parley Lake in Carver County in 2011. The data was then analyzed and mapped (See maps below)

The largest limestone bedrock spring in the Twin Cities is Camp Cold Water Springs in Minneapolis. About 144,000 gallons of water flow through the spring each day (Jeffery, 2000). However, concerns that the Hwy 55/Hiawatha Light Rail project may have altered flow in this historic site led to the MCWD conducting weekly discharge monitoring since August 2006. The monitoring results are being used to verify that the Highway 55 project did not affect the flow of Camp Cold Water Springs.

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD), in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), initiated the gauging station project in 2005. The station collects annual discharge data at the Hiawatha monitoring site upstream from the falls on Minnehaha Creek. The creek was listed as impaired by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2008 because of its chloride levels. In 2010, the MCWD and USGS partnered again to install a conductivity and temperature probes to further monitor chloride levels at the Hiawatha monitoring site.

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