Minnesota DNR Accidentally Makes Lake Disappear

Minnesota has one less lake than it did just a few days ago.

How the heck does something like that happen? Unlike the last few years, 2025 has been a pretty wet year, so it isn't like the lake managed to dry up due to a lack of rain.

What's interesting is that the lake actually dried up due to the fact that it has been so rainy this year. I know, that sounds confusing. I'll explain.

What Minnesota lake is now empty?

The Minnesota DNR shared on Monday (August 11) that Lake Alice at William O'Brien State Park is now nearly empty.

The DNR warns that if you are visiting the park for water recreation, which is a popular reason to visit, the lake "is not usable", and it will be a while before it will once again be usable.

READ MORE: Pro tips for visiting the Minnesota State Fair for the first time

Despite the lake being "unusable", the DNR does remind visitors that the nearby St. Croix River is still available for things like boating, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, and fishing.

Twin Cities media outlets report that the lake being emptied has also impacted the fish population, leading to a significant number of fish dying, including "some big carp, big northerns," and other species of fish like bass, walleye, and bluegills.

WCCO TV showed footage of the scene, including attempts to save some of the surviving fish by moving them into the nearby St. Croix River.

How did the lake get emptied?

Remember how I mentioned that the rainy weather Minnesota has had is to blame? The issue stems from a need to drain off some excess water from the lake.

High water levels from recent rains prompted the Minnesota DNR to drain off some excess water from this spring and stream-fed lake. A mechanical issue with a manually-operated 65-year-old water control structure led to the lake being drained nearly completely into the nearby St. Croix River.

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The plan was to open a drain and bring down the lake level by about a foot. Things obviously went beyond that.

When trying to close the control structure, the mechanism failed, remaining stuck open. Because of this, water continued to drain out of the lake to the point that it was nearly empty.

How long will it take for things to return to normal on this lake?

As teams had worked to fix the mechanical issue, the question of when water levels would rebound popped up.

In the initial social media post, the Minnesota DNR said "a timeline for restoring lake levels is not known yet", though some subsequent updates give a few clues.

The William O'Brien State Park website says they expect water recreation to be possible in "at least four to six weeks", putting the timeline somewhere in the middle or end of September at the earliest.

This timeline would be accurate if they are able to successfully implement a quick fix to the broken drain, with a more permanent one likely to take a more considerable amount of time.

This return to more normal water levels will happen through the streams & springs that feed the lake, replenishing the water. Thankfully, it has been a fairly wet year so far, so it should refill at a faster rate than it might have in the drier summers we've had in recent years.