Agenda - Council - 09/24/2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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General Comments: The Plan refers to the Know the Flow website many times throughout. The website is a great resource and we want the Plan to include it, however, it is referred to many times as belonging to/operated by the Anoka County Municipal Wellhead Protection Group ("ACMWHP"), which is not entirely the case. Know the Flow is a cooperative website of environmental and water management organizations and local government units in Anoka County that provides public information and coordination among organizations and agencies. While I cannot be 100% sure of whether the website was truly "established by the ACMWGP" (as stated on page 30), it is a bit misleading, as it was also an action item of the County's Community Health Improvement Plan in 2015. The website is maintained by Anoka County Environmental Services, and while the ACMWPG contributes to topics posted, many other organizations contribute as well. • Recommendation #1: Change the reference to the Know the Flow website, specifically in the 3 instances on page 3, page 21, and page 30, to reflect the collaborative nature of the site. We are wondering if the City plans on including manganese anywhere in the Plan. It is not regulated, so the City does not have to, but we believe that citizens may be curious as to where information on this topic is. Even if not enough research has been done to make any conclusive statements, citizens may appreciate an acknowledgment that elevates levels have been found. If the City is interested, Anoka County Environmental Services has been keeping a log of all manganese results within the City of Ramsey. We have not mapped them to know if they are near the DWSMAs of the City wells or in the same aquifer, etc., but we would be open to sharing this information in some format. • Recommendation #2: If the City deems it appropriate to do so, acknowledge manganese somewhere within the main part of the Plan. Specific Comments: Could sections 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 be combined? The content overlaps between the two sections and is a bit confusing to read as there is no clear difference between them. Also within Chapter 4, will the only changes related to population increases be the anticipated installation of two additional municipal water supplies? In other words, would there be any circumstance where new residents would be allowed to drill a new private well? • Recommendation #3: Combine sections 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 for clarity and address the aforementioned question if the City finds it relevant to the Plan. In regard to section 4.2.3, the City should keep in mind that some of the primary purposes of the ACMWPG are related to applying for, receiving, and utilizing grant funding. If the City is interested in exploring any grant opportunities with the ACMWPG, you may include it in the Plan and/or bring it up at a meeting. In regard to section 5.1.1 Source Water Aquifers, we would suggest including even a short statement about the potential aquifer drawdown and the effects that would have. Changes in static water level with additional high capacity wells are briefly discussed, but aquifer drawdown implies an unsustainable change. Also, aquifer drawdown does have the