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<br />[204185/1] 15 <br />77. Revising water appropriation permits was the key regulatory mechanism <br />that the Department had when meeting the requirements of the District Court’s order.77 <br />DNR has no statutory authority to direct municipalities to prepare, enact, or enforce local <br />ordinances. <br />VII. Additional Regulatory Controls <br />78. Apart from protective elevations, Minnesota law sets absolute limits on the <br />volume of water that may be appropriated from water basins. Collective annual <br />withdrawals from water basins may “not exceed a total volume of water amounting to <br />one-half acre foot per acre of [the] water basin ….”78 <br />79. Accordingly, six vertical inches of water on top of the Lake’s acreage is the <br />total water volume that can be annually appropriated from White Bear Lake.79 <br />80. In the DNR’s view, however, to maintain White Bear Lake’s Protective <br />Elevation, the annual withdrawal limit set in statute must be lowered by an additional <br />20 percent – namely from 0.05 acre-ft/acre down to 0.4 acre-ft./acre. It notes: <br />[DNR’s] model experiments indicated that long-term withdrawals at a <br />constant annual rate of 0.5 acre-ft./acre (393 million gallons per year) could <br />have caused the lake level to fall below 922 feet during the winters of 2010- <br />11 and 2012-13. At a constant withdrawal of 0.4 acre-ft/acre (314 million <br />gallons per year) calculated lake levels remained above the protective <br />elevation of 922 ft (MSL, 1912) during the 2002 through 2018 period.80 <br />81. During the evidentiary hearing, Randall Doneen, the Manager of DNR’s <br />Conservation Assistance and Regulations Section, characterized the withdrawals of <br />groundwater beyond the annual limit of 314 million gallons of water, as a “severe” <br />situation.81 <br />82. The Department is charged with allocating the water volume within the <br />collective annual withdrawal limit among all water appropriation permits.82 <br />83. Further, Minn. Stat. § 103G.287 (2022) grants DNR the authority to: <br />[D]esignate groundwater management areas and limit total annual water <br />appropriations and uses within a designated area to ensure sustainable use <br />of groundwater that protects ecosystems, water quality, and the ability of <br />future generations to meet their own needs.83 <br /> <br />77 Minn. Stat. § 103G.287, subd. 3. <br />78 Minn. Stat. § 103G.285, subd. 3(a) (2022). <br />79 Id.; Tr. Vol. 10 at 294 (Doneen). <br />80 DNR Ex. 3 at 11; Tr. Vol. 10 at 294 (Doneen). <br />81 See Tr. Vol. 10 at 299 (Doneen). <br />82 Id. at 236-40. <br />83 Minn. Stat. § 103G.287, subd. 4; RAHA Ex. 387; Tr. Vol. 10 at 26 (Moeckel).