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Item No: 7H Meeting Date: February 14, 2011 Type of Business: Council Business Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Nick DeBar, Public Works Director Item Title/Subject: Resolution 7744, Authorizing Barr Engineering Company to Prepare Part 1 of the Wellhead Protection Plan Background: In accordance with Minnesota Rules, Chapter 4720, all public water suppliers are mandated to implement wellhead protection measures through a Wellhead Protection Plan (WHPP). The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is in charge of enforcing the rules and has been phasing in the requirements to individual water suppliers over the past few years. Mounds View was notified in 2009 by the MDH that we are included in the next phase of municipalities required to perform this planning work based on our vulnerability to potential contamination. WHPP is broken into two general parts. Part 1 includes detailed analysis of each well and pumping aquifer characteristics, groundwater flow models, delineating WHP areas, vulnerability assessments, and identifying the types of potential contamination. Part 2 involves inventorying potential sources of contamination and developing management strategies for addressing the potential sources of contamination. This planning process takes some time to complete, and Mounds View has a deadline of April 15, 2013 for compliance. Public Works staff discussed this process with the City Council at their February 2010 work session. A Q&A handout about the general goals and requirements of wellhead protection is attached for reference. Discussion: Performing WHP planning is a specialized field that requires public water suppliers to hire outside consulting engineers and hydrogeologists. While there are many different factors affecting the cost to prepare the WHPP, the MDH estimates the costs could range from $5,000 to $6,000 for smaller communities (population less than 100 residents) and $20,000 to $60,000 for larger communities (population over 50,000). Unfortunately, this is an unfunded mandate unless the public water supplier is serving 3,300 people or less. The City solicited Statement of Qualifications from qualified firms to do the work and received a fee proposal from Barr Engineering Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota to prepare Part 1 of the WHPP for $12,360. Barr completed the Part 1 WHPP last year for the City of New Brighton and plans to use the same groundwater flow model for Mounds View. These flow models require trail and error calibrations; however, no calibration is needed for Mounds View. Barr’s familiarity with the aquifers, potential sources of contamination, and vulnerabilities in the area will also result in less overall costs to the City. Barr’s fee will be on an hourly basis plus reimbursable with a maximum fee not to exceed $14,800. Another requirement of the WHPP is for the City to select a Wellhead Protection Manager. This individual is the primary contact regarding all WHP activities and should be knowledgeable in WHP in order to assist the consultant engineers, MDH, and direct inquiries to appropriate staff. The Public Works Director, Nick DeBar, is proposed to be the Wellhead Protection Manager for the City of Mounds View. A handout describing the role and importance of the WHP Manager is attached for reference.