Laserfiche WebLink
Metropolitan Agencies <br />Decisions about the zoning or land use designations, either within or outside a publicpark, <br />naturepreserve,orotherprotectedareaare,andshould remain,theresponsibility oflocal <br />unitsofgovernment. <br />The Metropolitan CouncilÓs role with respect to climate change, as identified in the 2040 <br />regional development guide, should be focused on the stewardship of its internal operations <br />(wastewater,transit)andworkingcollaborativelywithlocalgovernmentstoprovideinformation, <br />best practices,technical assistance andincentivesaroundresponsesto climatechange. <br />Metro Cities urges the Legislature and/or the Metropolitan Council to provide financial <br />assistance forthe preservationofregionallysignificantnaturalresources. <br />4-MInflowandInfiltration(I/I) <br />The Metropolitan Council has identified a majority of sewered communities in the metropolitan <br />region to be contributing excessive inflow and infiltration (I/I) into the regional wastewater <br />system or to be on the threshold of contributing excessive inflow and infiltration. Inflow and <br />infiltration are terms for the ways that clear water (ground and storm) makes its way into sanitary <br />sewer pipes and gets treated, unnecessarily, at regional wastewater plants. The number of <br />identified communities is subject to change, depending on rain events, and any city in the <br />metropolitan areacanbeaffected. <br />The Metropolitan Council establishes a surcharge on cities determined to be contributing <br />unacceptableamountsofI/Iintothewastewatersystem.Thechargeiswaivedwhen citiesmeet <br />certainparameters throughlocalmitigationefforts. <br />Metro Cities recognizes the importance of controlling I/I because of its potential environmental <br />and public health impacts, because it affects the size, and therefore the cost, of wastewater <br />treatment systems and because excessive I/I in one city can affect development capacity of <br />another. However, there is the potential for cities to incur increasingly exorbitant costs in their <br />ongoing efforts to mitigate excessive I/I. Therefore, managing I/I at a regional as well as local <br />level,iscriticaltoeffectivemitigationandcostmanagement. <br />Metro Cities continues to monitor the surcharge program and supports continued reviews <br />ofthemethodologyusedtomeasureexcessI/Itoensurethat themethodology <br />appropriately normalizes for precipitation variability and the CouncilÓs work with cities on <br />communityspecificissues aroundI/I. <br />Metro Citiessupportsstatefinancialassistancefor metroareaI/Imitigationthroughfuture <br />Clean Water Legacy Act appropriations or similar legislation and encourages the <br />Metropolitan Council to partner in support of such appropriations. Metro Cities also <br />supportsresources,includingidentifiedbestpractices,informationonmodelordinances, <br />public education and outreach, and other tools, to local governments to address <br />inflow/infiltrationmitigationforprivateproperties. <br />Metro Cities recognizes recommendations made by a 2016 Inflow/Infiltration Task Force that <br />2022 Legislative Policies <br />50 <br /> <br />