Metro Groundwater Planning

Background:

In 1987, metropolitan counties were given the authority to prepare and adopt groundwater plans through Minnesota Statutes Chapter 473.8785 (now 103B.255). That provided a mechanism for counties to set priorities, address issues, and build local capacity for the protection and management of groundwater. 

What are implications of groundwater protection and management in the Twin Cities?

This is an important issue in the metropolitan area. Counties in the area have a high reliance on their groundwater for their domestic, municipal, industrial, and agricultural water supplies.

Additionally, the metropolitan area has productive aquifers, but they have limits. Development and urban sprawl have implications on groundwater; counties in the southwestern portion of the metropolitan area have concerns about meeting all of their groundwater needs. 

A number of successes have come out of this planning process. Every county in the metro area has technical groundwater capacity at some level.

Another example is the cooperation between counties. The Metro Area Ground Water Alliance, an association of metropolitan water resource professionals, has been formed through the efforts of county groundwater planners and managers in the seven-county metropolitan area. This association organizes the annual Children’s Water Festival. 

Hennepin County was the first county to begin groundwater planning in 1988, with authority delegated to the Conservation District. Other counties followed shortly after with their planning process. Washington County started in 1989, with the county planning department taking the lead. Dakota and Carver counties began groundwater planning in 1990 and were lead by the county planning departments. Ramsey and Scott Counties began groundwater planning in 1992 and 1993, respectively, with authority delegated to the Soil and Water Conservation Districts. 

The Board of Water and Soil Resources sent information and guidelines to counties for the metropolitan county groundwater plans in early 1990. BWSR awarded matching grants of $15,600 to the six metropolitan counties preparing plans. Metropolitan counties with approved groundwater plans can use matching grants to implement items in their plans. 

Progress report: 

Anoka County, though not participating in the official metropolitan groundwater planning process, has prepared a “groundwater protection assessment.” The county public health department coordinates the county groundwater planning and management activities.

Carver County’s groundwater plan was approved in August 1992. The plan identified the following as immediate planning and implementation issues: integration of groundwater planning into comprehensive plans; adoption of groundwater sensitivity maps; feedlot and septic system impacts; agricultural and urban chemical and fertilizer use; water quality monitoring; data collection and maintenance; abandoned wells; and land-spreading. In 2001, the county incorporated the groundwater plan into the Carver County WMO Watershed Management Plan. In 2010, the county incorporated some groundwater issues into the Carver County WMO Watershed Management Plan.

The Dakota County groundwater plan was approved in March 1992. It contains more than 100 initiatives on various aspects of groundwater protection. Primary objectives include: information and education; abandoned wells; pesticide issues; industrial issues; aquifer and well-head protection; and groundwater supply. An updated plan was approved in July 2000. It concentrates on a county groundwater inventory and on setting long-range management goals for groundwater-related issues. The plan provides a detailed implementation strategy to be administered by the Dakota County Office of Planning. The plan was developed with the objective to parallel goals and management actions from the Dakota County Comprehensive Plan 2020. The plan also integrates groundwater management with the other aspects of natural resource and surface water planning.

Hennepin County’s plan received state approval in March 1994. Although the county has not formally adopted the plan, the county is proceeding with implementation of many aspects of the plan. Plan goals for cities will include management according to geographic location and hazard potential, delineation of wellhead protection areas around public supply wells, applying existing zoning authority to protect groundwater, ranking and management of hazardous land use activities according to risk, using a GIS system to manage groundwater information, location of abandoned wells, and adoption of contingency plans for groundwater.

The Ramsey Conservation District has coordinated groundwater plan development since 1992. The plan received state approval in September 1995. The plan focuses on developing protection programs that cities and other local units of government can use to protect groundwater within their jurisdictions and on creating a framework for coordinating groundwater protection activities among local governments. An updated groundwater plan was drafted in 2009 and has not been submitted for approval.

The Scott Soil and Water Conservation District coordinated groundwater plan development since 1993. A draft plan was submitted for local review and preliminary state agency review in late 1996. In 1997, the groundwater planner left the district, and groundwater planning functions were transferred to the county Planning, Inspections, and Environmental Health Department. The plan underwent considerable revisions during 1998 and was approved by BWSR in 1999. It was the first plan to be published on the web. The plan identified the following issue areas: controlling feedlot runoff and getting enforcement to the county level, prevention of contamination by underground storage tanks, enforce current Subsurface Sewage Treatment Systems state rules and the county maintenance program, hazardous waste facility siting in the county, stormwater pond siting utilizing the sensitivity map, replacement wetlands and siting, protecting the county’s water supply, proper sealing and capping of abandoned and unused wells, and underground injection of liquid waste other than domestic sewage. The Scott County WMO Watershed Management Plan was approved in 2009 and incorporates some groundwater issues.

The Washington County groundwater plan received state approval in October 2003 and was adopted by the county in December 2003. The plan is a comprehensive document that lays out the technical framework, issues, policies, and implementation actions for the protection and conservation of groundwater resources. The plan includes 32 high priority implementation actions to be initiated within three years of the groundwater plan's adoption. Implementation goals include projects in non-agricultural land use; agriculture, turf, and animal waste management; individual sewage treatment systems; wellhead-aquifer protection and well management; groundwater supply; groundwater and surface water interaction; and hazardous materials management and transportation.

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