The differing parties agree that Lake Hallett in St. Peter is a community resource worth preserving.

But how to best tend to that is where their roads fork.

“I think the city should divert storm water away from the lake. Why not divert it to the east side of the lake, where there’s a storm sewer?” says Lake Hallett Association President Trudy Olmanson, who worries that pollutants in the lake pose health perils.

But such a diversion plan costs money the city doesn’t have, says St. Peter Public Works Director Lew Giesking. Besides, he says the lake’s water quality over the long term has gotten high marks.

“We’re cited as really bad guys, but we’ve been told it’s one of the cleanest bodies of water in southern Minnesota, so we must be doing something right,” Giesking says.

At issue is fecal coliform pollution counts in the lake, a naturally occurring phenomena exacerbated by heavy rains and, last March, spiked further by a spill of partially treated sewage from the city’s nearby wastewater treatment plant.

Olmanson and other association members question whether the city has done enough to abate the problem.

Giesking says the spill was properly tended to and the city is working on minimizing recurrent storm-water leakage into the lake through an aging storm-sewer pipe.

The pipe, installed in the early 1970s, has corroded to the point of pinhole leaks, Giesking says.

“The pipe is too thin to and fragile to seal properly. It allows a thin stream of water into Hallett. Not a lot, but it’s continuous.”

Giesking says the pipe is scheduled to be replaced this fall.

Meantime, fecal coliform counts remain higher than acceptable state standards, a fact no one denies.

Olmanson, one of two residents on the lake, takes water samples each week as a volunteer tester through a bacteria-monitoring project at the University of Minnesota.

A recent laboratory-verified test result showed an e. coli count of 1,400 CFUs (colony-forming units), which is above the acceptable standard of 1,000 CFUs.

The test was taken after recent heavy rains. City tests also showed high counts were storm water enters the lake.