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Draft North & East Metro Groundwater Management Area Plan 4-8 streams,wetland native plant communities associated with groundwater, and lakes and wetlands that are hydrologically connected to the regional aquifer system. Groundwater use in the vicinity of the six designated trout streams (Figure 2-6) is briefly summarized here.There are no permitted wells within 1 mile of Falls Creek, Willow Brook, or Valley Creek. All of the trout streams except Willow Brook have at least one permitted well within 3 miles.There are a total of nine wells within 1 mile of a trout stream and those wells pumped a total of 109.2 million gallons in 2012.A majority of that pumping was from wells in the vicinity of Brown's Creek.The potential impact that groundwater pumping has on the trout streams has not been fully evaluated. The City of Woodbury has conducted significant testing and analysis to evaluate the potential for impacts from its municipal wells in its eastern well field on Valley Creek.The results of those analyses were used to place limits on pumping these wells in the City's water appropriation permit.The DNR and Woodbury are working cooperatively to collect stream flow data near the headwaters of Valley Creek and evaluate potential negative impact of municipal pumping on the designated trout stream.This is one example of evaluations of pumping impacts applied to a specific water feature in the GWMA. There are a large number of lakes and wetlands that the Metropolitan Council classified as connected to the regional groundwater system and potentially vulnerable to impacts from pumping from buried Quaternary and bedrock wells (Figure 2-9).These include a number of features near areas of relatively intensive groundwater use. A number of the wetland native plant communities that are associated with groundwater(Figure 2-7) are in or adjacent to these features. As discussed in Section 2,the Metropolitan Council's classification system did not consider some factors that affect the sensitivity of lakes and wetlands to groundwater appropriations. Factors,such as the amount of surface inflow and outflow to a lake, can substantially affect the sensitivity of the feature to changing levels in underlying aquifers. For example,Washington County considered the relative importance of precipitation and surface water inputs in classifying water bodies in the northern part of the county 12. The classifications by the Metropolitan Council are generally based on regional information and should be refined for more local, lake specific characteristics to better evaluate vulnerability. A review of all hydrologic studies that provide useful information for evaluating groundwater-surface water interactions is beyond the scope of this Plan document. Several studies and additional data that focus on particular water features have been developed by watershed districts, counties, DNR, the U.S. Geological Survey, and others.These are resources for evaluations of these features. Permit holders have also developed important local information to help understand groundwater pumping impacts on surface waters and wetlands through aquifer testing and water monitoring.The U.S. Geological Survey(USGS), under contract with the Metropolitan Council, is conducting a project to 12 Emmons and Olivier Resources, Inc., 2003. Integrating Groundwater and Surface Water Management—Northern Washington County: prepared for Washington County. P66