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December 13, 2024
The advisory group for the North and East Metro Groundwater Management Area (GWMA) met Wednesday, Nov. 13 online via Microsoft Teams.
The online public meeting included a number of updates, including:
- District Court-related activities
- Metropolitan Council water policy planning
- The next cycle of 10-year water supply planning
- An update on the White Bear Lake water use workgroup comprehensive plan
DNR Conservation Assistance and Regulations Section Manager Randall Doneen opened the meeting with a review of activities related to the Ramsey County District Court Order. Doneen shared information about the recent contested case hearings and briefly described the findings of fact and conclusions of law and order issued by the administrative law judge in May 2024.
Following Doneen’s brief presentation, DNR Inventory, Monitoring and Analysis Section Manager Jason Moeckel described activities occurring throughout the groundwater management area by the DNR and other organizations and agencies. Moeckel emphasized groundwater sustainability will be something all people and organizations will be a part of and the DNR will continue to assist in pursuing that goal.
Metropolitan Council Water Resources Environmental Analyst Lanya Ross presented work related to the Met Council’s 2050 Water Policy Plan. Ross described the input used to draft the plan, the general content of the plan, and next steps to finalize and adopt the plan. The 2050 Water Policy Plan draft received over 100 comments which are being used to shape the final plan scheduled for adoption in February 2025. Ross also shared some specifics about the northeast metro area that encompasses the GWMA, noting that the northeast subregion area showed reductions in water use since the 2010s, but recent drought years, with the addition of new homes and businesses, have increased demands for drinking water more recently.
Claudia Hochstein, DNR water conservation consultant, outlined the water supply planning process for the next cycle of 10-year community water supplier plans. Water supply plans are required by state statute and help communities anticipate demands and opportunities to use water more efficiently. Specifically, Hochstein described how the DNR is working to update requirements of the plan for water suppliers and move the submittal to an online-preferred option. Hochstein encouraged public water suppliers to review their previous plan, current DNR water appropriations permit and water level monitoring requirements before they embark on a new plan.
Greg Johnson, Principal Engineer with the Metropolitan Council, provided an overview and update for the White Bear Lake Area Comprehensive Plan. Johnson shared the recent activities of the workgroup to continue to develop the comprehensive plan to ensure communities in the area have sufficient drinking water to allow for growth while ensuring sustainability of surface water and groundwater to supply the needs of future generations. He provided an overview of the workgroup meetings and some of the results that the work group has produced to date through attendee review and feedback. Additionally, Johnson described the contracts Met Council is working through to develop water supply studies and technical analyses as well as evaluate financial implications of the proposed solutions. Johnson also described the preferred solutions by the workgroup to further evaluate for converting water supplies, reusing water, increasing groundwater recharge, and reducing groundwater use, among other topics. Finally, he shared the preliminary water demand projections for 2050 and ultimate development for the White Bear Lake area including an example of the city of Hugo’s projected development for two different growth scenarios.
Several questions were asked throughout the online meeting and responses were provided verbally and through the meeting Q and A and chat functions.
Presentations provided during the meeting can be reviewed on the DNR North and East Metro GWMA webpage.
Project web page: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gwmp/area-ne.html
Dan Miller, Project Manager, Division of Ecological and Water Resources, DNR
Phone: 651-259-5731
Email: dan.w.miller@state.mn.us
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