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boundaries. It may be beneficial to site additional wells in Lino Lakes rather than Hugo due to better coverage by an impermeable layer. The costs associated with additional wells and storage would be reduced as part of a joint system. it is estimated that the cities would save about $12 million through the sharing of storage and wells. Seven (7) wells and three (3) million gallons of additional storage would not be needed as a result of the development of a joint system. 9.3.3 Optimized Water Supply Siting In terms of groundwater supply, Figure Ag shows that groundwater well productivity is not observed to vary significantly across the region. However, as Figure A9 also shows, different groundwater aquifers are available in different geographic regions of the study area. There will be benefits in terms of well siting in order to increase or decrease the use of certain aquifers to create a more sustainable groundwater supply, or to manage the impact that withdrawal from a given aquifer may have on surface water features of high value. Given the large geographic area of the hypothetical Joint Utility there would be many opportunities to site wells in a way to better manage impacts while also providing opportunities for enhanced recharge or aquifer storage and recovery systems. For example, the existence of a relatively continuous clay layer in the geographic region generally west of Highway 35E, and the absence of a clay layer east of Highway 35E, as shown in Figure A10, suggests that groundwater wells west of Highway 35E are more protected. Groundwater wells needed for future development east of the highway could be placed in the western areas to reduce potential impact to surface waters. Conversely, areas east of Highway 35E offer greater opportunities to directly enhance recharge into the aquifers west of Highway 35E from which the withdrawals are occurring. While infiltration of clean runoff in a planned way is good, doing so in areas where infiltration can directly improve the drinking water source aquifer is even better. Infiltration in the areas west of Highway 35E is still beneficial but it largely benefits the water table aquifer rather than the drinking water aquifer While some will slowly infiltrate through the clay layer and into the underlying drinking water aquifers, much will move laterally to a groundwater fed stream and ultimately exit the local system. Infiltration in areas east of Highway 35E where the clay layer is generally absent will have a more pronounced and immediate impact upon the actual source water aquifers. Existing surface water runoff that currently leaves the region through ditching and piping networks may be better managed to infiltrate into the source water aquifers in the areas east of Highway 35E. 9.3.4 Operations and Maintenance Although not within the scope of this study additional benefits of a point system could be realized through labor and maintenance sharing. Administrative staff could be shared in a way to reduce total cost of running a joint utility as compared to running each one independently. Shared accounting and professional services can result in reduced costs as well. Maintenance staffs are often governed by the need to plow streets so to truly leverage a joint utility there may also need to be cooperation in other areas of municipal maintenance including things like plowing. Staff reduction does not have to occur when a Joint Utility is formed if this is not politically acceptable. Rather, the optimum staff can be achieved through attrition and not replacing staff who retire or leave for other opportunities. A more detailed look into this aspect of the benefits of a Joint Utility is warranted in a future study if the communities elect to continue to pursue this course of action. Joint Water Utility Feasibility Study 33