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Water
Utility Council
Minutes
December 18, 2003
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
St. Paul Regional Water Services
McCarrons Water Treatment Plant
Attendance:
Steve Gleason (SPRWS), Kurt Johnson (TKDA), Ed Sorensen (Eden Prairie), Doug Mandy (MDH), Bernie Bullert (TKDA), Bob Peplin (Sebesta), Chad Hill (B&V), Dave Scheerer (Hydro Metering), Bill Angerman (WHKS & Co.), Chris Elvrum (MNDNR), Lisa Thorvig (MPCA), Dennis Martenson (CDM), Don Volk (Lakeville), Dale Homuth (MNDNR), Michael Convery (MDH), Jim Japs (MNDNR), Bruce Olson (MDH)
Meeting of Previous Minutes:
Minutes of the October 1, 2003 were not available.
A. Well Advisory Committee (Michael Convery (MDH))
a. Looking for a member from the Water Utility Council
b. Past member has been Doug Rolvang, City of Rochester
c. Three (3) year term
d. Michael Convery (MDH) can be reached at 651-215-0818 ( Michael.convery@health.state.mn.us )
B. Impaired Waters - Lisa Thorvig (MPCA)
a. Presentation of draft legislation entitled “Minnesota Surface Water Protection and Restoration Act”
b. Issue: ~ 40% of waters in MN are considered impaired. Impaired is defined as any water body below presently designated water quality standard.
c. Proposed legislation would provide for a multi-agency council (6 government agencies) that would provide direction to the MPCA on how to correct impaired water areas.
d. Funding would be a user fee collected by municipalities.
e. Stakeholder meeting at St Cloud Civic Center on January 13.
C. Legislative report from LMNC Representative
a. Ann Higgins from the League of Municipalities was not present.
D. Congress, EPA Update (Bob Peplin)
a. USEPA closed the public comments on the Stage 2 Disinfection By-Products (S2DBP) and the Long-Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment (LT2ESWT) on January 9 and 16, 2004 respectively.
b. Groundwater rule will probably be finalized in early 2004
c. White papers are been developed with EPA and the AWWA on the Distribution System rule and revisions to the Total Coliform Rule. Anticipated to be completed by mid-2004.
d. Promulgation of Final Radon Rule anticipated mid to late 2004
E. State Related Water Issues
a. Metro Area Groundwater Alliance (Chris Elvrum) - Group developed a Facility Plan for the Children's Water program at the State Fair. Chris recommends that this report be deleted from future WUC meetings.
b. Gopher State One Call (Adam Kramer) - Not present
c. Environmental Quality Board (Kurt Johnson) – Noted that he has not seen any EQB/Water Resource Committee activity and suggested dropping this item from the agenda for this reason and past attendance. Ed Sorensen offered to keep the WUC abreast of EQB meeting through one of his staff members that is active within the EQB.
a. Minnesota Rural Water Association (Ruth Hubbard) - Not present
b. Minnesota Department of Health (Doug Mandy)i. No legislation proposed this upcoming session
ii. No rule changes proposed this yeariii. Source water assessment (Bruce Olson)
1. Completed on time.
2. MDH wants to make the capture zones shown on the assessments available to the public. Well locations are not shown for security reasons. Possible to make it password protected. January – February 2004 information will be made available.c. Metropolitan Council (Chris Elvrum)
i. Water usage data is out in February 2004. Looks at long term water use by each county.
ii. Southwest Technical Advisory Committee – a groundwater model that looks at well depth and drawdown interferences. Scott County is providing the financial resources.
iii. Cities of Woodbury & Afton have reached an agreement on staged growth rates and monitoring of groundwater levels for well pumps.
iv. Northwest Metro area – looking at growth rates based on groundwater withdrawal needs from the Prairie du Chen, Drift, Franconia and Mt Simon-Hinckley aquifers.
v. Possible LCMR grant for a sustainability study of groundwater usage between Minneapolis and St Cloud.d. Department of Natural Resources (Jim Japs)
i. Development of Mt Simon –Hinckley guidelines
ii. Completion of water conservation plans
iii. DNR wants to streamline the timeliness of permit responsiveness
iv. Dale Homuth indicated that there was reorganization within the DNR to allow for more local control. The area hydrogeoligist can provide appropriation up to 500 MG per year.
v. Lakeville – 50-60 groundwater interference complaints (2001) resulting from increased local drawdown as a result of (recent) increased municipal well pumping. Five (5) cases were successfully presented at a contested case hearing.
vi. Joint Water Commission (JWC) (Golden Valley, Crystal, New Hope) – JWC believes City of Mpls is charging too much for their finished water. JWC wants to develop a well field of 6-10 wells. (18 MGD). This requires legislative approval. Additional options, i.e. use of Mpls water for peaking, etc., are under review.
vii. Trying to develop another trigger for the DNR suspending non-essential uses of water. Presently, Elm Creek stream flow is the trigger.
viii. Ramsey – Pollution issues are present on 5 new wells.
ix. Water Appropriation- wants to raise priority for reviews and approvals. DNR has formed an adhoc committee to review permit approval.e. MUCA Activities – MAC (Ben Mason) – not present. At Ben's suggestion, via Kurt Johnson, it was proposed that this iten be removed from the agenda.
f. Association director (Bernie Bullert)
i. Bernie pointed out that only three (3) utilities are present at the WUC meeting. Need to get more utilities present at this meeting. Also, League of Municipalities representation needs to be provided since Ewald does not represent the WUC at the legislature any more.
g. Secretary/Treasurer – (Jon Eaton) – not present
F Discussion/Action Items
1 Current Issues
a. Gopher State One Call – NLR Fees (Steve Gleason)
i. Office of Pipeline Safety wants responsibility to be determined on the location of private utility lines. Two (2) hearings have been held.
ii. Possible legislation being proposed to change rules.
b. Water Security – proposed legislation to allow utilities to not discuss security issues in public meetings. Pat Shea, City of St Cloud, is a proponent of this proposed legislation.
c. Survey of State Auditors – this survey made a recommendation to abolish enterprise funds. This is contrary to what municipalities and water utilities have developed to fund capital improvements for their systems. Involvement with the League of Municipalities is necessary.
G. Next Meeting: Thursday, March 18, 2004 at the Eden Prairie WTP, 10AM –12 PM