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January 18, 1996 page 2 organized drill event held at 3M Center in Maplewood.. The scripted. scenario involved the rupture of an oil tank, with simulated flow through the storm sewers to Battle Creek and Pig's Eye Lake. Because standard maps did. not reveal that part of the creek is channelized. underground, responders encountered difficulty in predicting oil movement during the exercise. Similar difficulties arose in response to an actual oil spill into Bassett Creek in north Minneapolis earlier this year. Responders were unable to locate the channelized creek outfall using standard maps. Because similar unusual hydrologic features may pose difficulties for spill responders in the future, we would like to gather information on such features for the Sub-Area Plan. Although it is not possible to replicate all watershed information within. the Plan, we hope to highlight those features that are potentially the most problematic for spill responders, such as dams, stream channelizations and diversions. Additional information. that could prove useful to responders may include storm sewers collecting runoff from large (> 5 mi.z) areas, or storm sewers that divert runoff from landlocked watersheds to other watersheds. We must also make it clear that the Association staff will not be able to perform interpretive or analytical filtering of comprehensive watershed plans and the engineering documentation these plans may contain. We therefore ask that any information you provide be selective, in language readily understood by a general audience, and limited to those features that are potentially the most troublesome -- ideally a few pages at most. We would like to alert responders to the existence of these features rather than provide all of the details. We also ask that you provide clear locational information for these features. For current storm sewer information, the Sub-Area Plan is providing contact telephone numbers for municipal public works departments, rather than replicating this large volume of information within the Sub-Area Plan. We will also be providing contact information for the 46 watershed organizations in the seven-county metropolitan area, and have enclosed a survey listing information about your watershed organisation taken from. the 1995 Board of Water and Soil Resources Directory. If there is additional contact information that you would like to have available for spill response personnel, please include it on the space provided. We also ask that you indicate the name and number of individuals who could be contacted for additional watershed information on an emergency basis, if possible. Thank you for your input and willingness to assist with the improvement of these planning and response tools. We are nearing completion of the plan and ideally need to have any data gathered and entered by the last week of January; therefore, we ask that you submit all information by January 31st. Your attention to this time limit is appreciated. If you have questions or wish to discuss this planning effort, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, ~~~ Mike Aaron Research Assistant enclosures