Agenda - Council - 02/13/1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chairman's Message M)' colleagues and ] commend the legislature for having the foresight to establish the Metropolitan Local Water Manageme/zt Task Force. ] had the distinct ho~zor of being elected by the members to chair the Task Force. I beliepe that I speak for the each metr,- bet when I sa)' that the effort was worthwhile. The mission of the Task Force was to evaluate the effectiveness of local water manage- ment in the metro area and to make recommendatio~ where it could be improved. am hap. py to ret)orr that our mission was achieved - and we did it on time./Asyou water management breeds controver3y. HoweYer, because of the diligent work by the . Task Force and staff, success was achieved with little strife in spite of divergent opinions: on some of the issues. Our lakes, streams and groundwater are Minnesota's trademark. The properpIanning and management of these resources i3 a job bigger than an, y, one agency can handle. The 1982 legislature recognized this when the original "509'legislation was passed and mandated that local government be intensively involved in metro water management. Nonpoint pollution threatens to impact ali our surface and groundwater. Only local government can effectively control this type of pollution through ordinances and policies implemented via local water plans. It is the duty of the state to provide the guidance and tools needed to do the job properly and comprehensivel3; while still recognizing local uni- queness. No place is this more critical than in the seven county metro area, where half of our 4 million residents live on 3.3 percent of Minnesota's land area. We found that the "509" planning process is worldng well in some areas and not so well in other areas. B), properly defining oversight responsibility and promulgating rules to guide plan content, most of the weaknesses in the process will be corrected. The recommendations contained in the report will go a long way in improving water manage- ment in the metro area. We hope that the legislature adopts this report as its own and carries out the recommendations which require revision of statute. Feel free to contact me or the staff of the Board of Water and Soil Resources at the phone numbers listed inside if you have any questions regarding the content of this report. Don Ogaard, Chairmd~ Metropolitan Local Water Management Task Force