Res. #15-008 - Relating to the Proffered Settlement Agreement By the White Bear Lake Restoration Assoc. Relating to Regionalization of Municipal Drinking Water Supplies

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STATE OF MINNESOTA COUNTY OF ANOKA CITY OF CENTERVILLE RES. #15-008 A RESOLUTION RELATING TO THE PROFFERED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BY THE WHITE BEAR LAKE RESTORATION ASSOCIATION RELATING TO REGIONALIZATION OF MUNICIPAL DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES WHEREAS, the White Bear Lake Restoration Association, launched a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Resources (DNR) asserting complaints about the water level in White Bear Lake and claiming that the DNR violated the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA) and the Public Trust Doctrine among other allegations; and WHEREAS, the lawsuit contained claims, propounded by the Plaintiffs hired representatives, which asserted that by allowing thirteen local communities to use groundwater for their public water supply, including primarily drinking water, the DNR permitted too much groundwater to be used. This, the lawsuit claimed, affected recreational uses in White Bear Lake. Plaintiffs, and their hired representatives, thus demanded constriction of groundwater uses by neighboring Cities including suggesting in their written discovery responses that municipal water wells be terminated (in a manner to be determined by the DNR) because, claimed the Plaintiff s representatives, pumping of municipal drinking water resulted in a recent decline in water levels of White Bear Lake; and WHEREAS, DNR denied those allegations and responded by pointing out that the claimed recent reduction in water levels in White Bear Lake was • a cyclical decline which occurs at varying years over the long existence of the lake and then reverses; and • that it was related to climate patterns; and • that it was also (and more obviously) related to cessation of a long-standing practice of directly pumping water into the lake to maintain its levels; and • that, despite the claims of Plaintiffs paid experts, even independent studies were preliminary and did not plainly establish a link between drinking water pumping and the depth of water in White Bear Lake and that additional study and consideration was needed to understand this complex inquiry; and • that, ultimately, the entire matter was a complex inquiry, more aptly suited to be explored and resolved by dispassionate scientific inquiry, rather than to be determined by the claims of Plaintiff s paid advocates through lawsuits; and WHEREAS, well before the lawsuit, the City of Centerville encouraged and developed mechanisms for recapturing and conserving surface water and surface water runoff for use to replace or supplement ground water use;and WHEREAS, though the City of Centerville encouraged the DNR to contest the Plaintiffs claims vigorously,Plaintiffs and the DNR have agreed to a settlement which, among other things: