2005-01-27_AgendaPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

~~ " 1 ~ ~,A ~ k jI ~ z s ~ _~ ~ ~ . ~ ,~~ by Tom Ebnet ,- - ~ `~~ Again this past summer MAWD has been involved in discussions on the TMDL Impaired Waters Initiative with fifteen other stakeholder groups. As you may recall, Governor Pawlenty failed to back the proposed funding recommendations so the group went back to the drawing board in an attempt to put together a recommendation that would allow us to move forward on this important issue. The group, referred to as the G-16, should have its final _ recommendations ready in time for us to hear about it at the MAWD Annual Meeting in early December. Strong involvement by local units of government will again be part of the overall plan. According to the Majority Leader Dean Johnson, the Senate will hold hearings on a bonding bill in the next couple months and will move on the bill in the first 30 days ofthe 2005 Session. The CREP Program and Flood Damage Reduction are two of the important elements of WATER Who used your water last and what for? Was it used in processing, stormwater runoff, cooling, growing crops, manufacturing, etc? Was it monitored or cleaned before being discharged, either to surface water or to the soil? In Minnesota we have a plentiful supply of water. We tend to take this water for granted. All of the water we use is recycled through evaporation, condensation or through the soil.. We need to keep our water pure and clean. This is important for consumption, cleansing and recreation. It is important for our standard of living that we often assume as automatically on-going. We also need to educate people upon the importance of our water and the need for quality. It is vital to maintain and be watchful as our population increases.. We need to impress upon residents and visitors to our state the importance of conserving and maintaining the quality of our water. Just because you have acreage does not mean you are not polluting. What can we do to keep our water clean? This is an issue for every individual as well as groups. As Watershed Districts we need to look at every project. that we are involved with for water quality factors. Will there be improvement? Will it improve our water quality? Tom Ebnet esi e is of that bill for MAWD. Hopefully the two sides can come together on a bonding bill this year. If you haven't had a chance to review the programming offered at the Annual Meeting & Trade Show please take the time to look it over and I am sure you will agree that we are presenting a very strong education program again this year. We hope to see all of you at the 34th Annual Meeting & Trade Show at the Arrowwood Conference Center on December 2-4th. We are again offering new manager training for newly appointed managers -everyone that has been appointed within the past two years and hasn`t attended this orienta- tionsession should plan on attending on Thursday, Decem- ber 2nd. Drainage & Natural Resource Enhancement is the theme for our annual drainage conference. For those of you who are drainage authorities you may want to consider attending this seminar to get the latest informa- tion ondrainage in Minnesota. I'la Charles Roper September 27, 2004 Pelican River Watershed District Condolences for the Charles Roper family can be sent to: Mrs. Lenora Roper and family 13585 Barbara Beach Lane Detroit Lakes, MN 56501 Charles Roper has been a watershed district manager since 1982. He was especially interested in Weed- harvesting, waste-water treatment and lake water quality. Glenn Mitchell October 20, 2004 South Two River Watershed District Condolences for the Glenn Mitchell family can be sent to: Miller-Carlin-Brenny Funeral Home 300 Railroad Ave Albany, MN 56307 Glenn was a substitute pharmacist and traveled statewide. The watershed district plans to plant a blue spruce tree about 5 feet tall near a project or public access in his memory.