Water Utility Council

Minutes
Thursday, June 26, 2003
St. Paul Regional Water Services

 

Attendance:

Bob Cockriel, Bill Angerman, Steve Gleason, Verne Jacobsen, Kurt Johnson, Bud Krause, Cliff McLain, Pat Shea, Dave Scheerer, Chris Elvrum, Ruth Hubbard, Doug Rovang

 

Meeting of previous meetings Minutes:

Minutes of the March 20, 2003, meeting were approved.  Motion by Pat Shea; Second by Bud Krause.

 

Congressional/EPA issues Update:

Bob Peplin was not present.  Chair Cockriel indicated Bod was no longer with CDM, and may not have received the meeting notice.

 

National AWWA Update:

Section Director Bernie Bullert was not present.

 

State-Related Water Issues:

           

A.     Miscellaneous Updates

1.      Metro Area Groundwater Alliance: Chris Elvrum (Metropolitan Council) noted that the Alliance has focused more recently on the Children’s Water Festival. (Held the last Wednesday in September for ~ 1,500 students from Metro area meeting at the State Fairgrounds and learning about such things as:  the impact of land use on water funding shortfalls, but keeps on chugging.  Cliff McLain noted they do the same thing at Morehead for ~1,000 students each year.  Other cities/towns mentioned for their similar activities included Cold Springs, Detroit Lakes, Paynesville, Mankato, and Brown/Nicollet Counties.

 

2.      Gopher State One Call (GSOC)  Adam Kramer, current Chair of the GSOC Board and Water Utility Council member was not present.  Chair Cockriel updated Utility Council members on two thinks that had taken place since discussion of this issue at the 3/20/03 Utility Council meeting.

a)      As requested by the Utility Council at that meetings, Section Director Bullert sent a letter to Adam Kramer (GSOC Board Chair) clarifying that Adam does not officially represent the MN Section on the FSOC Boar.  The letter noted there seems to be a misunderstanding by the GSOC Board (and particularly by Tonya Bethke, GSOC General Manager) that Adam does represent AWWA.  The letter also brought to Adam’ s attention Bethke’s inappropriate personalized response to Cockriel’s recent letter expressing AWWA opposition to scheduled charges for “No Locates” effective 1/1/04.

b)      The League of Minnesota Cities has a meeting scheduled for mid-July to discuss issue 2a) above, as well as the issue of proposed legislation making Cities responsible for locating private sewer and water services for contractors.  Chair Cockriel will attend that meeting representing AWWA.

 

3.      nvironmental Quality Board (EQB)  Curt Johnson said the EQB seems to be relatively inactive these days as far as water issues.  Chris Elvrum said he is aware the EQB is meeting, if only irregularly.

 

B.     Reports

 

1)      Minnesota Rural Water Association

a.       Ruth Hubbard reported that Rural Water has received a grant for developing operator study guides for Class D water systems (mobile homes) and Class E water systems(Non-transient, non-community).

b.      Ruth noted Rural Water has received a contract with EPA to track compliance with Vulnerability Assessment submittals from the 85-90 water systems in MN in the 3,300 –10,000 population range.  She also mentioned that a modified version of the RAM-W Vulnerability Assessment has been released for use by water utilities.  Bob Cockriel noted the newer version provides some templates for more ease of completion, and other changes to reduce some previous redundancies in the method.

c.       Ruth also noted EPA has extended the deadline for issuance of the Groundwater Rule.

 

2)      Minnesota Department of Health  Doug Mandy was not present.  Chair Cockriel reminded Utility Council members that Gary Englund had recently retired, and Mandy is to be his replacement as the MDH representative on the Water Utility Council.  It was mentioned that Gary’s position opening was to be posted internally this week, and that registration as a professional engineer will not be a requirement for the position.  Ruth Hubbard reported that Rural Water has been invited to participate in the position interviews; she thought AWWA had also been invited.

 

3)      Metropolitan Council Chris Elvrum mentioned the following:

a)      The SW Metro Area Groundwater Group is meeting tomorrow (6/27/03) about the ongoing Lakeville private well dewatering issue.  (They seem to be moving toward establishing a minimum allowable private well pump depth seting.)

b)      Efforts are being made to get a NW Metro Area Groundwater Group established.  A Phil Colon (LMC) was mentioned as a contact.

c)      Met Council is doing a small study on “Water Use in the Metro Area”- long term water use, stimulated by 1990’s State water legislation.  Elvrum also mentioned DNR is doing groundwater modeling for the I94 corridor area aquifer.

 

4)      Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Neither Jim Japs nor John Linc-Stine was present.  See Old Business/New Business Item 1) below.

5)      MN Section Secretary/Treasurer  Jon Eaton was not present.  Chair Cockriel noted Jon has been doing a very good job as MN Section Secretary/Treasurer in cleaning up Section business affairs.  The Section’s financial condition has improving markedly.

 

6)      St. Cloud Water-related Grandts.  Ruth Hubbard noted the ~$1,000,000 in grants St. Cloud and other cities in the Mississippi River Corridor had recently received through the MPCA and the LCMR related to maintaining Mississippi River water quality.  Pat Shea reviewed the grants received: a Phosphorus Initiative related to local municipal wellhead protection plans (23 municipalities receiving ~$500,000 over two years); a Source Water Initiative (~$400,000); and a Total Maximum Daily Loading (TML) study (~$100,00).

 

 

7)      Gravel Mining Operation in Moorhead Shallow Water Supply Aquifer  Cliff McClain provided an update on their concern about a gravel mining operation with an asphalt batching plant ~20’ from the water’s edge and near (but beyond) the outer edge of their wellhead protection area.  The pit was considered a lake and not protected under water supply rules.  Cliff recounted how the County’s Conditional Use Permit process for the gravel mining operation was used to force relocation of the asphalt plant, and commented that such gravel pits should be treated as potential groundwater supply sources and should fall under the Groundwater Rule.

 

C.     Old Business/New Business

1)      DNR Metro Area Water Appropriation Permits  Vern Jacobsen asked where things are with the issuance of water appropriation permits within the Metro area.  It took Forest Lake 5 years to get their appropriation permit(s).  Chris Elvrum mentioned that he reviewed the Eden Prairie permit application and noted the requested appropriation was above the Year 2010 projection – he understands the DNR has held up issuing the appropriation permit.  Other Metro Cities with appropriation permit issues noted were Lakeville(see B.3a above), and Woodbury (East Wellfield).  Chair Cockriel mentioned  this is an issue we could ask the League of MN Cities (LMC) to become involved in.

 

After additional discussion, Chair Cockriel was asked to put Metro Area water appropriations permits on the next Utility Council meeting agenda, and to ask Jim Japs or John-Stine to provide an update on this issue at that meeting.

 

2)      Eliminating Sales Tax on Water System Infrastructure This previously discussed issue (water infrastructure was exempt from sales tax until ~10 years ago) was again discussed, and the Utility Council decided this was not an issue to pursue at this time with the State’s current fiscal woes.  Chair Cockriel reminded Utility Council members that WUC representatives met with Department of Finance representatives a few years ago, worked up proposed legislation which would have eliminated the sales tax on water system infrastructure, but were unable to find a sponsor in the legislature.  Bud Krause suggested Chair Cockriel bring this issue to the attention of the LMC, communicate the AWWA position, and report the LMC response at the next Utility Council meeting.

 

Next Meeting: 

The next MN Section Water Utility Council meeting will, as usual, be held during the MN Section Annual Conference (in Moorhead, October 1-3, 2003). Exact time and date are yet to be determined.

 

Meeting Adjourned:

There being no further business, Chair Cockriel adjourned the meeting at 11:55 a.m. Motion by Pat Shea; Second by Dave Scheerer.

 

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