Agenda - Council - 07/28/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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22 Commercial water use is the second largest category of municipal water use in the region, but is the state's fifth -priority water use if emergencies arise. This means that, during an emergency, these uses may be curtailed per local emergency response plans. Between 2003 and 2012, about 25% of municipal water was used for a variety of businesses. The amount of water used to support commerce varies from community to community. In some communities, such as New Brighton and Shakopee, almost half of the municipal water supply supports commercial, industrial, and institutional customers. Others, such as Birchwood Village and Centerville, report very little commercial or other nonresidential water use. Industrial Industry is the third largest category of public water supplies. Like commercial use, this is a fifth - priority use and subject to restriction in an emergency. Between 2003 and 2012, approximately 2% of municipal water use supported industry. However, industrial water demand varies greatly from community to community. In some communities such as South St. Paul, almost a third of the municipal water supply is used by industrial customers. In others, none is used for industrial purposes. Some industries, however, have their own water appropriations and wells and do not rely upon the municipal systems. That use is discussed later in this chapter. Irrigation- self supplied Water is used for irrigation on major crops, golf courses, nurseries, and landscape/athletic fields; the amount varies from year to year depending on weather, and approximately 36 MGD were used for irrigation between 2003 and 2012. About two-thirds of irrigation is for major crops (22 MGD). Nine MGD were used between 2003 and 2012 for golf course irrigation, and approximately 4 MGD each for landscape/athletic fields and for nurseries. Agricultural demand for major crop irrigation is the third - priority water use in the state. Currently, there are approximately 57,500 irrigated acres in the region. Agricultural water use is seasonal, so although annual totals are not as high as municipal water use, summer seasonal use is very large, particularly in rural areas with sandy soils such as Dakota County. DNR reports that water is used for major crop irrigation by over 400 permittees in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Special categories & water level maintenance - self supplied Water supplies are used for many other purposes, as well. Between 2003 and 2012, approximately 17 MGD were used for water level maintenance - some at long term quarry dewatering sites and some at short-term construction projects. An additional 14 MGD were used for special categories - the largest uses include pollution containment (11 MGD), sewage treatment (2 MGD), and snow and ice making (0.5 MGD). These are generally fifth- and sixth -priority uses, and they are likely to the first curtailed during drought or other water use conflict. Industrial processing - self supplied After municipal demand, private industry uses the most amount of water. Purposes include agricultural processing, petroleum processing, metal and non-metallic processing, sand and gravel washing and other similar uses. This use is the fifth priority water use in the state. Between 2003 and 2012, the average daily industrial water use in the metropolitan area was approximately 26 million gallons per day. The top three uses were for petroleum chemical processing, WATER SUPPLY MASTER PLAN- Draft June 2015