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Special Interest <br />Articles: <br /> <br />• Future Water Plans <br /> <br />• Recycling Hauler <br />Change <br /> <br />• City News, Page 4 <br />Scheduled Recycling <br />Dates: <br /> <br />• November 9 <br /> <br />• November 23 <br /> <br />• December 7 <br /> <br />• December 21 <br /> <br />Future Water Options Discussed at Summit <br /> <br />The status of Gem Lake’s private wells, the <br />possibility of a municipal water system and the <br />investigation into the source of sporadic well <br />contamination within city limits were all discussed at <br />the Gem Lake Water Summit, held September 12 <br />at Heritage Hall. <br /> <br />Approximately 30 people attended the event, which <br />began with a report from the Minnesota Pollution <br />Control Agency (MPCA) on efforts to quantify the <br />amount and source of some contamination of the <br />chemical 1,4 dioxane that has shown up in <br />approximately 22 wells. According to Tim Grape of <br />MPCA, progress has been made on locating a <br />possible source and more information will be <br />available in the next few months. In the meantime, <br />the agency plans to do another round of well testing <br />of affected wells and possibly those that were <br />showing very slight traces of the chemical in <br />question, but were not over the state allowed limit in <br />terms of parts per billion. <br /> <br />(Continued on page 2) <br /> <br /> <br />Gem Lake Loses a Jewel – Lorraine Birkeland <br /> <br />Lorraine Birkeland, whose family owns White Bear <br />Floral and who was perhaps Gem Lake’s oldest <br />resident, passed away on September 9 at the age <br />of 98. Lorraine also had the distinction of being <br />Gem Lake’s longest-term resident. <br /> <br />She was born in 1923 and moved to Gem Lake <br />from St. Paul in 1932 when she was nine years old. <br />These were some of the darkest days of the Great <br />Depression. Her father, Henry Wohletz, had moved <br />the family to the area to start a greenhouse. Local <br />businessman Henry Hoffman, of Hoffman’s Corner <br />fame, sold them 4 acres so they could embark on <br />their dream of a better future. Lorraine said she <br />never forgot his generosity. Hoffman allowed <br />Lorraine and her family, which also included her <br />mother Elizabeth and her sister Esther, to live rent <br />free in one of his houses for a whole year, while the <br />business got off the ground. <br />(Continued on page 3) <br /> <br /> <br />Gem Lake News <br />November 2022 | Volume 16 | Issue 7 Gretchen Artig-Swomley, Newsletter Editor <br />