Agenda - Council Work Session - 12/09/2014

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or agency staffing needed by cities to address environmental and public health concerns, not as a means to generate new revenue to cover other budget shortfalls. The Legislature should create effective, producer -led reduction, reuse, and recycling programs to deal with a product's lifecycle impacts from design through end -of -life management and should regulate products and compounds that damage water quality, sewer collection, stormwater or wastewater treatment systems at the consumer and manufacturing levels, not just at the treatment and infrastructure maintenance level. SD-60. Municipal Public Water Supplies Issue: Essential residential water supplies provided by public water supply systems are classified as the highest priority for the use of public water under Minn Stat § 103 G.261. Minnesota cities spend significant resources meeting their responsibility to providing safe, reliable, affordable water to their residents in a sustainable manner That is an essential element in assuring a healthy and stable future for public health, the environment, and economic development. As a result, municipal water suppliers have collected some of the most current and accurate information available on local water conditions. The state requires extensive planning and permitting processes for municipal water suppliers to document that their systems are drawing water at sustainable levels, that the water is safe for human consumption, that they have land use controls in place to protect public water supplies from contamination, that adequate plans exist for emergency and high demand situations, and that rate structures meet state statutory requirements. Those systems are constantly becoming more technologically, environmentally, and economically efficient. City water suppliers have invested many billions of dollars to develop their utility systems and infrastructure in a manner that meets those criteria. Demand and supply sides of this issue are being addressed throughout the state. Cities have established educational programs, incentives, and local water use restrictions to further improve water conservation efforts, while appliances and plumbing fixtures are becoming more efficient in their water use. Furthermore, stormwater is being infiltrated into the ground at unprecedented levels as part of municipal stormwater permit requirements and is being redirected for irrigation purposes in some cities. Despite those efforts, there are places in the state where monitoring data indicates that water may be being used faster than the supply can sustain, particularly in the case of underground aquifers. These issues are very complex, however, and causes and effects are not always easily documented or understood. City water supplies are not the only users of that water, either. Industries, smaller private wells, agricultural operations, irrigation systems, and contamination containment and treatment can all be major drains on local water supplies. Hard facts and sound science need to be used to determine the best courses of action to assure that safe, reliable, affordable water supplies are available to future Minnesotans. Those approaches will vary considerably depending on local water and soil conditions, the types and sizes of users, and the quantity and quality of available water. They also need to be coordinated between the many state entities that play a role in water management and regulations so that scarce local resources are not wasted and efforts are not counterproductive to League of Minnesota Cities 2015 City Policies Page 38