#13 - Water Appropriation Permit

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5 volume of water appropriations in accordance with the water allocation hierarchy set forth in Minn. Stat. § 103G.261. Nor has the Ramsey County District Court excused DNR from complying with the requirement to limit water appropriations to the collective annual withdrawal limit necessary to assure White Bear Lake water levels stay at or above the protective elevation. 2017 Order at 137.4 20. Based on the analysis contained in Paragraph 17, DNR concluded that permitting an increase in Lake Elmo’s appropriation, or any appropriation within the 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake, would result in cumulative appropriations greater than the collective annual withdrawal limit for White Bear Lake. 21. In its 2021 Water Conservation Report Lake Elmo reported a residential water use of 104 gallons per capita per day. This is well above the Court ordered residential water use goal of 75 gallons per capita per day and total per capita water use of 90 gallons per day. 2017 Order, at 138. The consumptive use level is also greater than the 55 gallons per capita per day required to maintain the collective annual withdrawal limit for White Bear Lake. See ¶ 19.Lake Elmo has a pending contested case hearing contesting the permit amendments required by the 2017 Order including the residential water use goal of 75 gallons per capita per day and total per capita water use to 90 gallons per day. Because of the pending contested case hearing none of the permit amendments ordered by the court in 2017 are currently in effect. 22. The Lake Elmo 2021 Water Conservation Report reports Lake Elmo spent $240,932 on water conservation efforts for a total estimated on-going water savings of 1,219,619 gallons. 23. Through conversations with the City of Lake Elmo, the DNR became aware that the city is having difficulty pressurizing their water supply system and thus has been unable to store sufficient emergency water in its water storage tower. This is likely because the existing three wells are not able to pump at the authorized instantaneous rate of 750 gpm (Well #2), 1,250 gpm (Well #4) and 1200 gpm (Well #5). DNR determined that pressurizing the water supply system to enable storage in the water tower did not require an increased appropriation, rather a new well was needed to pressurize the system to accomplish storage in the water tower. DNR asked why Lake Elmo did not request an additional well to address the water tower issue in its 2022 Amendment Request. Lake Elmo advised DNR it as not ready to request an additional well because it had not yet determined the location for the well. Conclusions 1. As set forth in Paragraphs 14 and 16 through 21, and to assure that existing water appropriations are in compliance with the requirements of Minn. Stat. § 103G.287, the 2017 Order required the DNR, among other requirements, to “set a collective annual withdrawal limit for White Bear Lake”, to set a 923.5 foot trigger elevation for implementation of the 922 foot White Bear Lake protective elevation, to refrain from issuing any new or increasing existing appropriation permits within a 5-radius of White Bear Lake until DNR had fully complied with setting a collective annual withdrawal limit, and to refrain from issuing new or amended water appropriation permits that would exceed the collective annual withdrawal limit and result in “draining of the lake”. 2017 Order at 136 – 139. For each day that DNR fails to comply with the provisions of 4 The DNR is subject to sanctions of $1,000 per day for each day it “is out of compliance with . . . [the 2017] Order. 2017 Order, at 139.