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.~', <br />PROPOSED RAMSEY COUNTY GROUNDWATER PROTECTION PARTNERSHIP <br />Recommendation to form a Ramsey County. Groundwater Protection Partnershap o <br />assume a leadership role in countywide groundwater protection. <br />Countywide groundwater protection requires a structure for organizing and implementing <br />programs. A countywide organization with the necessary resources and focus on groundwater <br />protection is needed to fill this role. This organization could be called the Ramsey County <br />Groundwater Protection Partnership (RCGPP). <br />Responsibilities of the RCGPP would include: <br />^ Implementation and oversight of initiatives in the Ramsey County Groundwater <br />Protection Plan. <br />^ Coordination of groundwater data collection by groundwater partners. <br />^ Central repository of groundwater data collected by RCD and groundwater partners. <br />^ Pursue grant funding opportunities for projects across Ramsey County. <br />^ Publication of an Annual Groundwater Report to the residents of Ramsey County. <br />^ Institutionalization of countywide groundwater protection. <br />^ Semiannual meetings of the proposed Ramsey County Groundwater Protection <br />Partnership to review the work program and assess progress. <br />^ Share data between partners on groundwater issues (i.e., groundwater infiltration BMPs <br />in critical city Drinking Water Supply Management Areas). <br />^ Provide a forum for mutual drinking water protection issues related to overlapping <br />municipal Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMAs) or DWSMAs <br />extending into other cites. However, this would not surplant any state or federal role in <br />these matters. <br />^ Engage adjacent counties on shared groundwater issues. <br />^ Education and outreach on issues pertaining to groundwater and its' protection. <br />Because groundwater moves across watershed and political boundaries, no one partner can <br />effectively protect even its own groundwater. Ramsey Conservation District, as the author of the <br />Groundwater Protection Plan and holding countywide responsibilities, is the natural choice to fill <br />this organizational role and implement programs. Individual partners would be free to pursue <br />their own groundwater protection and monitoring programs at their discretion and then provide <br />the data to RCD for dissemination. <br />Implementation of countywide programs would require funding from partners and financial <br />accountability by the Partnership. Of the following organizational structures: Joint Powers <br />Organization, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), or work group, the most flexible and most <br />accountable structure would be a MoU. No additional layer of regulation will result from this <br />Partnership. The MoU would not have regulatory authority. Partners in the MoU would enforce <br />regulations within their own jurisdictions. <br />Partners could implement their own groundwater protection intitatives within their boundaries <br />while also benefiting from a countywide organization and countywide program implementation. <br />Partners could also rely on RCD for additional services on a case-by-case basis. <br />x:\groundwater\grass lake wmo\glwmo-organizational structure-gw partnership.doc <br />