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A consultant to MnDOT has completed the preliminary engineering design. This <br />information includes a proposed alignment and profile (grade or slope) of the 15-inch <br />diameter pipe from West Vadnais Lake, under I-694, and ending at Jiggs Pond, located <br />between Levitz Furniture and the former Knox Lumber building along Country Drive in <br />Little Canada. Jiggs Pond will be modified as part of the `Unweave' project, to a <br />configuration with surface area of about 1.25 acres and depth at normal water level of 3 <br />feet. The consultant also completed hydrologic modeling of the existing condition at <br />Jiggs Pond as well as the proposed condition after the `Unweave' project. For the "after" <br />condition, the effect of the West Vadnais outlet flow is estimated conservatively as 4 <br />cubic feet per second, which corresponds to the outlet pipe flowing full. This condition is' <br />extremely unlikely to occur in practice, once the West Vadnais Lake level is set at the <br />control elevation of 881.9. Modeling results for the Type II, 24-hour, 100-year storm <br />event of 5.90 inches, for existing and proposed (i.e. with `Unweave' project and full pipe <br />flow in the West Vadnais outlet pipe) conditions at Jiggs Pond are summarized in the <br />Attachment 2 (below). A brief summation of these results is the proposed combined <br />`Unweave' and outlet projects do not increase storm event peak outflow and high water <br />elevation at Jiggs Pond, but each project will individually add some water volume to <br />Gervais Lake in the total amount flowing through the outlet pipe over time. <br />For long periods of time, there will be no flow out of the West Vadnais outlet pipe. Once <br />the outlet is in place and. the control water elevation is reached, when outflow does occur, <br />it will usually consist of a very low flow or trickle due to the limited inflow to West <br />Vadnais Lake and the large lake surface area. The purpose of the proposed outlet is to <br />provide an upper limit to West Vadnais Lake elevation during long-term periods of <br />above-normal precipitation, such has occurred in the last several years. <br />The proposed West Vadnais outlet project involves water flow between three water <br />management organizations: Vadnais Lake Area WMO, Grass Lake WMO, and Ramsey- <br />Washington Metro Watershed District. Grass Lake and West Vadnais Lake may <br />exchange water during high water periods. Grass Lake elevation has been markedly <br />elevated since 2001 (extended periods above 882.7, 1988 datum), mast obviously <br />encroaching on the I-694 Right-of-Way fence and flooding the bike pathway under <br />Gramsie Road in Shoreview. The highest point controlling flow between Grass Lake and <br />West Vadnais Lake is thought to be a culvert under a Metropolitan Council interceptor <br />sewer access road on the east side of Grass Lake, with bottom-of--pipe elevation of about <br />881.2 +/- (1988 datum, extrapolated from Profile 4, Grass Lake WMO Level Control <br />Plan, April, 1990). <br />Grass Lake's watershed is approximately 1,389 acres and includes outflow from Bennett, <br />Wabasso, Owasso and Snail Lakes in Roseville and Shoreview.. Grass Lake is a shallow <br />lake, which. has been largely vegetated until recent high-water conditions created a much <br />larger open-water area. The Grass Lake WMO Water Management Plan discusses the <br />important role of infiltration or seepage from Grass Lake into the groundwater. <br />Evapotranspiration by plants is also an important process, which consumes water in <br />Grass Lake during periods when vegetation is abundant in the lake. According to long- <br />term lake elevation data collected by Ramsey County, Grass Lake is well below the high <br />3/19/2004 2 <br />