#13 - Water Appropriation Permit

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4 volume to determine the volume of water that can be taken from the aquifer while maintaining the protective elevation. That number is then used to determine the volume of water available for appropriation to the communities with wells within the 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake. To undertake these calculations the DNR developed a state-of-the-science groundwater model using best available data. DNR used its groundwater model to understand the appropriation levels that would be necessary to assure that White Bear Lake’s protective elevations were maintained. The DNR determined that a direct withdrawal of water greater than 314 MGY from White Bear Lake would cause the lake to periodically drop beneath the protective elevation under normal climatic conditions. Current groundwater use in the area that affects lake levels is equal to an approximate direct withdrawal from White Bear Lake of 585 MGY. This analysis includes water use from wells that affect the lakes elevation both inside and outside of the Court ordered 5-mile radius. Public water suppliers, including Lake Elmo, would need to limit appropriations to a volume equivalent to 55 gallons per capita per day at 2020 population levels to achieve the collective annual withdrawal limit necessary to maintain White Bear Lake’s protective elevation (922 feet above mean sea level).3 This analysis assumed lower priority users would not continue to appropriate water in the North and East Metro. Granting Lake Elmo’s amendment request to increase its appropriation to 540 million gallons per year would increase the total water withdrawn from the lake and cause lake levels to drop below the protective elevation even more than it would fall under current conditions. In fact, any increase in groundwater use within the 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake would contribute further to the current exceedance of the collective annual withdrawal limit. 18. Lake Elmo’s request, if granted, would double Lake Elmo’s permitted appropriation volume. Granting Lake Elmo’s water appropriation, when the data indicates that doing so would only exacerbate the appropriation pressures on the aquifer and White Bear Lake, would increase the burden on the other appropriators within the five-mile radius. Granting Lake Elmo’s permit request would be inequitable to other communities within the five-mile radius that could also make valid arguments for a substantial increase in their appropriation. It would also mean that Lake Elmo would be relieved of the obligation to participate in a regional solution to address the water challenges in the North East Metro in accordance with the 2017 Order while increasing the burden, including the financial burden, on those communities not receiving an increased appropriation to either find a solution or reduce their water use. Finally, authorizing the proposed increase in groundwater use by Lake Elmo prior to identification of a regional solution would elevate Lake Elmo’s water need above that of other community water suppliers in the area. 19. On April 26, 2022, in response to DNR’s determination that, to comply with the court’s mandated collective annual withdrawal limit, it would need to limit water appropriations to public water suppliers and would have to set their level of appropriation at 55 gallons per capita per day, the Ramsey County District Court issued a statement saying “…nothing in the Court’s orders requires the DNR to modify existing municipal water appropriations from the Prairie du Chien aquifer to limit the total volume of permitted appropriations to the equivalent of 55 gallons per capita per day. For clarity, nothing in the Court’s prior orders prohibits municipalities with water appropriation permits from furnishing water to non-domestic users such as hospitals, grocery stores, public services or other commercial or industrial uses”. However, the Ramsey County District Court has not provided any clarity to DNR on how it is to achieve the requirement of the Court’s 2017 Order to implement the collective annual withdrawal limit short of reducing the 3 A 55 gallons per capita per day demand is consistent with Minnesota’s statewide residential per capita per day demand.