In 1987, the metropolitan counties obtained the authority to prepare and adopt groundwater plans through Minnesota Statutes Chapter 473.8785 (now 103B.255). This allows counties to set priorities, address issues, and build local capacity for the protection and management of groundwater. Below are short summaries of the status of groundwater plans for each metropolitan county.
- Anoka County
Anoka County, though declining to prepare an official groundwater management plan, has incorporated water management (surface and groundwater) into its authority as a Community Health Services agency to assess and plan for the protection of residents and their environment. The County has collaborated with residents, communities and watershed organizations, to establish: a Water Task Force; a water information website (www.KnowTheFlow.us); a municipal wellhead protection joint powers organization; and the incorporation of water sustainability and protection goals in the County’s Community Health Improvement Plan.
- Carver County
Carver County’s first groundwater plan was approved in August 1992. In 2001, the county incorporated the groundwater plan into the Carver County WMO Watershed Management Plan. In 2010, the county incorporated some groundwater issues into the Carver County WMO Watershed Management Plan. The county prepared a new groundwater management plan, which was approved by BWSR in 2016, to describe groundwater management goals and actions during the period 2016-2025.
- Dakota County
Dakota County completed its first groundwater plan 1992. An updated plan was approved in July 2000. It included a county groundwater inventory and long-range management goals for groundwater-related issues. In 2006 the county integrated all of its water management objectives, including groundwater protection, in a comprehensive Environment and Natural Resource Management Policy Plan. The plan was approved in October 2006 and it serves as the current county groundwater protection plan. This plan also integrates groundwater management with the other aspects of natural resource, surface water, and waste management. The 2020-2030 Dakota County Groundwater Plan provides strategic direction for the county's involvement in groundwater issues, and identifies goals, strategies and tactics the county plans to pursue to protect groundwater resources. Groundwater | Dakota County
- Hennepin County
Hennepin County’s plan received state approval in March 1994. However the county never formally adopted the plan. Nevertheless, county environmental managers have pursued some of the plan’s objectives, including delineation of wellhead protection areas around public supply wells, applying existing zoning authority to protect groundwater, ranking and management of hazardous land use activities according to risk, and adoption of contingency plans for groundwater supply. The county has no plans to update the 1994 plan.
- Ramsey County
The first Ramsey Conservation District groundwater management plan was prepared by the Ramsey Conservation District, which has coordinated groundwater planning on behalf of the County since 1992. That plan received BWSR approval in September 1995. It focused on developing programs that cities and other local units of government could use to protect groundwater within their jurisdictions and on creating a framework for coordinating groundwater protection activities among local governments. The Ramsey Conservation District prepared a plan update in 2009 but the county board declined to submit the draft for BWSR approval. In 2016 the district and county have been exploring the possibility of updating the 1995 plan to address recent developments and opportunities in groundwater management.
- Scott County
The first groundwater management plan was drafted in 1996, revised extensively in 1998 and finally approved in 1999. Key issues addressed in the plan included feedlot runoff, prevention of contamination by underground storage tanks, enforcement of rules regulating Subsurface Sewage Treatment Systems, hazardous waste facilities, water supply protection, and sealing of abandoned wells. While the 2009 Scott County Watershed Management Organization Plan incorporated some groundwater-related issues, the county has not updated their groundwater plan since 1999.
- Washington County
The second generation Washington County Groundwater Plan received state approval in August 2014 and was adopted by the Washington County Board of Commissioners in September 2014. The Plan is a comprehensive document that lays out the technical framework, issues, policies, and strategies to address existing and future groundwater concerns. The Plan is organized around various issues related to groundwater quality and quantity. Groundwater quantity issues include supply and surface water-groundwater interaction. Groundwater quality issues include source water protection, volatile organic compounds and perfluorochemicals, nutrients/pesticides/road salt, emerging contaminants, septic systems, land spreading, hazardous waste, mining and landfills. While the county will lead implementation of some strategies, for many others they will rely on partnerships with local, regional and state agencies. The 2014 plan also uses the Results Based Accountability framework for measuring progress towards the 70 strategies identified in the Plan.