Water Utility Council
Minutes
December 13, 2001
10:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.
Fire Station #1, Bloomington

Attendance:
Yasser Abouaish, Ruth Hubbard, Kurt Johnson, Allen Lamm, Ben Mason, Bob Peplin, Dave Scheerer, Scott Franzmeier, Verne Jacobsen, Ed Sorenson, Dennis Martenson, Cliff McLain, Dick Nagy, Bob Cockriel, Bud Krause, Chris Elvrum

Meeting Called to Order
Bob Cockriel opened meeting at 10:03 a.m.

Approval of Minutes
Bud Krause requested the minutes of the 10/3 meeting be amended to reflect his attendance. On motion by Mason, second by Johnson, the 10/3 minutes were approved as amended.

Congress, EPA Update
Bob Peplin presented handouts from AMSA, “WaterWeek”, Sandia National Laboratories, and EPA dealing with several bills before the House and the Senate, emergency spending, the PN Rule, the Arsenic Rule, and EPA’s request for comments on the Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule and the Disinfectants/Disinfection By-products Rule.

Legislative Report
Franzmeier reported on the following items:

a.)        Arsenic Issue at State Level
The Arsenic Task Force met earlier today and decided their primary focus in this legislative session will be educational. Carla Peterson will develop a fact sheet, and Scott will put together a contact list.

b.)        Sales Tax Exemption of Equipment
This will remain a back burner issue for this session.

c.)        2002 Session – Other Issues?
Water related issues would probably be a low priority during this session due to higher profile concerns such as the budget deficit, the stadium issue, short session length, election year, etc. However, Scott anticipates the Legislature may seek to take testimony on arsenic and/or security. He is looking for about 6 volunteers who could be available on as little as 12 hours notice to testify on these subjects. Scott suggested Ed Sorenson and Bob Cockriel, and Dennis Martenson volunteered as well.

State Related Water Issues

Miscellaneous Updates

Metro Area Groundwater Alliance
Chris Elvrum discussed groundwater planning activities, and the Children’s Water Festival, which was attended by 44 Metro Area 5th grade classes this year.

Gopher State One Call
No report.

Environmental Quality Board
Kurt Johnson presented a handout titled the “State Water Program Reorganization Project”, and led a discussion on the subject.

Reports

Minnesota Rural Water Association
Ruth Hubbard presented 2 handouts dealing with studies sanctioned by NRWA comparing how rules and regulations affect small utilities as opposed to large ones. The first handout was a listing of the various White Papers; the second was one of the actual studies. The other studies may be downloaded from the web site. Ruth also mentioned that Carla Peterson is putting together a ½ day school on arsenic at the next MN RWA Annual Conference.

Minnesota Dept. of Health
No report

Met Council
Chris Elvrum confirmed that Gary Oberts has left the Met Council. He reported on efforts of the MC to develop an inventory of natural resources, and discussed specifically the aquifer recharge study. The USGS has been engaged to do a survey of NW Metro Area that will be used to help determine the ability of the aquifers there to support on-going development. The preliminary results are due by 7/02 with the final report due 1 year later. Chris also reported that the SWMGWWG met on 12/11, and discussed the ground water modeling done for Prior Lake.

Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources
No report

MUCA Activities
No activity to report

AWWA Issues
Al and Yasser briefly discussed the budget reduction for National; the need for qualified candidates to fill vacant Council positions, and led a long discussion on Efficient Utilities. Regarding EU, Yasser reported on the recent Executive Board meeting, and their decision to recommend continued support for the venture; the MAC survey indicating that approximately 70% of the provider community do not support EU; and that approximately 70 companies have either cancelled or announced their intention to cancel exhibits for the 2002 National Conference in New Orleans resulting in a potential $500,000.00 revenue loss.

National WUC Report
No report

Discussion/Action

Association Management Update
Scott Franzmeier reported that the Board has approved 2 new Councils-Conference and MAC; that the Board of Governor’s meeting will be held at Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd on 1/4/02; and the proposed golf outing/banquet function this spring to raise money for the Endowment Fund.

Secretary / Treasurer
Ed Sorenson reported that the Section is in decent shape financially. The Board is reviewing ways to optimize the use of paid staff without jeopardizing volunteerism.

Old & New Business
Yasser Abouaish reported on the prospect of a controversy surrounding Calgon Corp.’s patent on the use of UV treatment to “de-activate” cryptosporidium, and the possibility of an AWWA sponsored legal challenge to the patent.

Ben Mason discussed the recent approval by the State Department to proceed with the NAWS rural water project in ND.

Next meeting
The next meeting is scheduled 3/14/02, 10:00am to noon, at a location yet to be determined.

Adjourn
Bob Cockriel adjourned the meeting at 11:50 a.m.

 

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