East Side Lake is a 40 acres (16.19 ha) reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 in Austin

Austin, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 23,314 people, 9,897 households, and 6,076 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,168.2 people per square mile . There were 10,261 housing units at an average density of 954.3 per square mile...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 in western Mower County

Mower County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 38,603 people, 15,582 households, and 10,315 families residing in the county. The population density was 54 people per square mile . There were 16,251 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...

, which is in the southeast part of the state. It is one of two man-made lakes in Mower County (the other is Lake Louise

Lake Louise State Park

Lake Louise State Park is a Minnesota state park just north of the Iowa border near the small town of Le Roy in Mower County, Minnesota, directly south of Rochester. It has a 25 acre man-made lake and of mixed prairie and deciduous forest. It is used for picnics, swimming, camping, hiking,...

), which is one of only four counties in Minnesota without a natural lake. The majority of the lake is only 5-6 feet deep.

Dobbins Creek

The lake's only tributary and only outflow is Dobbins Creek, which starts in Red Rock Township

Red Rock Township, Minnesota

Red Rock Township is a township in Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 715 at the 2000 census. The largest town in the township is Brownsdale with a population of 718 people. All other area in the township is unincorporated. The township is named for a large, red rock in...

 and flows through Nicolville. As reported in the Star Tribune

Star Tribune

The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...

 http://www.startribune.com/462/story/470972.html, untreated

Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...

 sewage

Sewage

Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...

 (including feces

Feces

Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...

) from Nicolville is dumped into Dobbins Creek a mere three miles (5 km) upstream from East Side Lake. Fecal bacteria have been measured at up to 11 times the level allowed in surface water by state law.