#13 - Water Appropriation Permit

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3 system plan). The City of Lake Elmo water supply plan, dated April 21, 2020, indicates additional water supply demands up to 540 million gallons per year by 2025. 11. Lake Elmo also stated it needed an increase in its permit volume to supply water through the municipal system to residents currently using private wells sitting over the PFAS plume. 12. The State of Minnesota’s 850-million-dollar settlement with 3M in State of Minnesota v. 3M (3M Settlement), requires the State to use the settlement funds to first “enhance the quality, quantity, and sustainability of drinking water in the East Metropolitan Area (“East Metro”)” with a goal of ensuring clean drinking water in sufficient supply for residents and businesses in the East Metro. Lake Elmo is expressly named in the settlement as one of the cities whose drinking water needs are to be addressed through the settlement. 13. In furtherance of the 3M Settlement, the State developed a Conceptual Drinking Water Supply Plan (Water Supply Plan) with the cities in the East Metro, including Lake Elmo. One purpose of the Water Supply Plan was to identify methods to supply safe drinking water to these cities in a manner that allows growth while meeting the requirements of the 2017 Order and the long-term water needs of the East Metro. The State is in ongoing discussions with these cities about how to implement the Water Supply Plan, including discussions with affected cities on how to supply safe drinking water in a manner that complies with the 2017 Court Order. In the interim, the DNR has granted Lake Elmo a permit to relocate one of its municipal water supply wells, that sat over the PFAS plume to a new location outside of the plume. See ¶ 6. The Water Supply Plan also includes steps to provide municipal connections or point of entry water treatment for affected homes with private wells. 14. The 2017 Order issued by the Ramsey County District Court in White Bear Lake Restoration Association ex. Rel. State of Minnesota v. Minnesota DNR et. al. requires all groundwater appropriation permits within a 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake to comply with the applicable portions of Minn. Stat. § 103G.285. Minnesota Statute § 103G.285 subd. 3 requires DNR to set a protective elevation for water basins, below which an appropriation is not allowed. The Court also directed the DNR to set a collective annual withdrawal limit for White Bear Lake. 2017 Order, at 137. 15. Some wells that appropriate the water authorized under Lake Elmo’s water appropriation permit (Permit 1961-1031) are within the 5-mile radius set forth in the 2017 Order, therefore Lake Elmo’s water appropriation is subject to the restrictions contained therein.2 16. In December of 2016 the DNR set a protective elevation for White Bear Lake at 922.0 feet above mean sea level to balance the ecosystem benefits of fluctuating lake levels with the negative recreational impacts of lake levels at the lower end of the lake’s historic range. 17. Setting and implementing a collective annual withdrawal limit for White Bear Lake involves determining the volume of water that can be taken from the Lake at a level that will maintain the protective elevation and converting that surface water volume to a groundwater 2 Both Stillwater and Saint Paul Regional Water Services have only one well within the 5-mile radius. The permits for both entities were amended to comply with the requirements of the 2017 Order. In fact, as evidenced by the testimony at trial, Saint Paul Regional Water Services only has one ground water well in its entire water system. It appropriates water from that well only to flush its systems and in emergencies yet Saint Paul Regional Water Services is subject to all of the conditions imposed on communities with groundwater apparition wells within a 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake.