Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 12/01/2014

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Resource Conservation Natural resource management occurs in a very dynamic setting. Land use, regulatory standards and agencies, financial and technical capacities of local, state and federal resource managers, personnel, priorities and goals are in a constant state of change. Additionally, the resources themselves change in terms of their quality, quantity and distribution. Emerging issues promise to further complicate the natural resource management setting. ACD is committed to remaining proactive rather than reactive by considering emerging issues throughout the natural resource management process. Emeraina Issues Climate change is speculative and does not benefit from consensus. What is known is that the composition of the gases in the atmosphere are changing and it seems to coincide with the industrial revolution and the reliance on fossil fuel burning to supply the world's energy needs. How this change in composition will ultimately influence weather patterns, ocean currents, precipitation regimes and vegetation is uncertain, but it warrants mention and consideration during planning efforts. Changing precipitation patterns have already resulted in updates to the precipitation frequency tables by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Atlas 14), which indicate that normal and extreme precipitation amounts have increased, leaving previously installed stormwater infrastructure undersized. Agencies must be prepared to adapt to changes that do occur and make appropriate adjustments to programs to reduce or alleviate the resulting problems. Groundwater supplies in Minnesota have not been an issue of concern in past planning efforts. Recent projections indicate that areas of Anoka County may experience drinking water shortages in the next twenty years. As surficial groundwater is depleted, we can anticipate shallow domestic wells drying up, wetlands being converted to non -wetland, stream base flows being compromised, shallow lakes becoming wetlands, recreational lakes becoming smaller, shallower and experiencing water quality problems, and vegetation transitioning to more drought tolerant species. Anoka County is the recharge area for many of the deeper aquifers relied upon by the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs to the south for commercial and domestic water supplies. Overuse in those communities will result in lower water tables in Anoka County. Efforts to conserve water by optimizing turf and crop irrigation techniques and reducing the footprint of highly manicured lawn can put a dent in the issue. Increasing rain water infiltration should be considered during planning efforts and project design. This can be challenging because large flat sandy uplands are optimal groundwater recharge areas and they also have the highest pressure to be developed to residential and commercial uses. When this happens, much needed rain water infiltration tends to be dramatically reduced. Infiltration and groundwater quality protection can be in conflict with each other. Under the direction of the MN Pollution Control Agency, many municipalities continue to have source water protection strategies that prohibit the infiltration of stormwater in effort to protect shallow groundwater from contamination. Several stormwater constituents such as nitrates, chlorides, pathogens, and heavy metals are not adequately filtered by the sandy soils of the Anoka Sand Plain. Ultimately, policy page 6 Anoka Conservation District Comprehensive Plan October 2014