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7550 Sunwood Drive NW • Ramsey, Minnesota 55303 <br />City Hall: 763-427-1410 • Fax: 763-427-5543 <br />www.ci.ramsey.mn.us <br />March 20, 2015 <br />Re: City of Ramsey Review Comments — Draft Water Resources Policy Plan <br />To whom it may concern: <br />Thank you for the opportunity to review the draft Water Resources Policy Plan (WRPP). The <br />City of Ramsey offers the following comments for your consideration. <br />The City of Ramsey supports the Met Council's goal of achieving sustainable water systems. <br />However, achieving sustainable water systems across the twin cities metropolitan area must be <br />achieved in an equitable manner. <br />The City of Ramsey supports the regionalization of water systems, but only if such systems can <br />be funded equitably across the communities they serve. The City would also like to stress that <br />developing regional water supply system partnerships can be extremely difficult and time <br />consuming, particularly when local agencies are expected to take the lead. We therefore request <br />that the Met Council consider actively supporting and leading the discussions for the <br />development of regional partnerships to ensure success in such endeavors. <br />The City of Ramsey would like to stress the financial difficulties associated with converting <br />groundwater supply systems to surface water supply systems. Due to the high costs associated <br />with such system conversions, local agencies are simply unable to pay for such improvements on <br />their own and would require financial assistance to comply with such requirements. <br />We would also like to emphasize the need to maintain groundwater supply systems for <br />supplemental or emergency water supply needs, such as when pollutants are released in surface <br />waters triggering temporary facility shutdowns. <br />The City also vigorously supports further exploration and implementation of water conservation <br />methods, including reusing wastewater and promoting infiltration practices to aid in groundwater <br />recharge. <br />Based on our review we did not identify anything in the draft WRPP that significantly conflicts <br />with the current goals or initiatives of the City of Ramsey. However, based on our other recent <br />Met Council policy plan reviews we question whether the draft WRPP accurately reflects <br />population growth forecasts for the area, and are therefore unsure about the accuracy of some of <br />the information included in the draft WRPP. <br />11Page <br />