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5.4. ERMUSR 02-12-2013 Elk River -is. Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission David Berg— Water Superintendent John Dietz, Chair Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair Allan Nadeau, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: February 12, 2013 5.4 SUBJECT: Aquifer and Ground Water Supply BACKGROUND: The 2012 summer drought was tough on our wells and aquifer and the predictions for 2013 are not looking any brighter. Every month, the wells are measured while they are flowing to see how drawn down the water is, or in other words, how far down the well our water is sitting. In 1997, ERMU had roughly 2,000 customers hooked up to our water system. In July of 1997, Well #3's water was flowing 46% of the way down the pipe. In 2012, ERMU had roughly 4,500 water customers. In July of 2012, the same well is now down to 61%. DISCUSSION: The drawdown on our wells combined with another possible drought this summer poses a large problem for the Water Department's revenue. The DNR has talked about enforcing water restrictions to help conserve water. In other words, reducing or banning lawn sprinkling altogether. Summertime is when the bulk of the water department's income is made. Without that revenue, we could potentially have to dip further into our reserves to pay for our necessary planned projects. In the event that the DNR does enforce water restrictions, ERMU will need to take steps to compensate for the potential reduction in water sales. There are a number of options including drawing down reserves or implementing an emergency or summer rate. Regardless of the method for adjustment, the potential reduction in revenue will create a ripple effect in the water department's long-term capital projects and reserves. If ERMU needs to take corrective steps, staff will bring back more information at a future meeting. 'POWERED BI ��$ Page 1 of 2 NATURE Reliable Public Power Provider ATTACHMENTS: • Star Tribune article "Drought spreads over Minnesota, dry fall forecast" • Business Week article "Drought strains Minnesota's resources" • DNR's Monthly Electronic Newsletter Summarizing Minnesota's Climate Conditions int 1 roUFRED 8 ► ■'tut Page 2 of 2 NATURE Reliable Public' POWEeE0 To SERVE Power Provider "But we are very concerned going to this fall and winter and into next spring about what the impact could be if we don't get adequate moisture this winter and into next spring," Wohlman said. He also said that the drought makes it urgent for Congress to pass the stalled Farm Bill to ensure that farmers have the certainty and the risk management tools they need such as crop insurance to plan for next year. Drought spreads over Minnesota, dry fall forecast • Article by: BILL MCAULIFFE, Star Tribune • Updated: September 17, 2012 - 6:35 AM With 44 percent of the state in drought status, there's little soil moisture to give next year's crops a start. • 2 • comments • Oresize text 0 • print • buy reprints Ads by Google • Video Production MNHigh-End Video Production Services Business, Marketing & Advertising www.WideSkreen.tv Although Minnesota escaped the worst of this summer's blistering U.S. drought, dry conditions have spread across the state in recent weeks and aren't expected to ease soon. The U.S. Drought Monitor last week identified a band of central Minnesota, including the northern half of the metro area, as experiencing moderate drought. That put 44 percent of the state in some kind of drought status, up slightly from the previous week. Two tongues of southern Minnesota are in extreme drought. Meanwhile, the national Climate Prediction Center sees a strong trend toward lower-than-normal precipitation across virtually all of Minnesota for the rest of September. Through Friday, only .11 inch of rain had fallen this month at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. If that pace continues, this will be the driest September on record. The second-driest occurred only a year ago, on the way to an odd sequence of an extremely dry fall and winter followed by the Twin Cities' second-wettest May on record and torrents of rain in northeast and southeast Minnesota in mid-June. Ads by Google • Drought cornHybrids that help yield advantage in water-limited environments. www.Pioneercom/AOUAmax 'Flash drought' Since August began, most of Minnesota has received less than 3 inches of rain; central Minnesota, including much of the metro, less than 2. At the Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, soil moisture is the lowest it's been since the drought of 1988. Minnesota state climatologist Greg Spoden called it a "flash drought." "We had 14 1/2 inches of rain in May. You'd have figured we had enough rain to last forever a that point," said Steve Eid, owner of Steve's Elk River Nursery, in the heart of the newly designated drought area. "But you're really seeing [drought] in the lawns and especially the shade trees right now. They're dropping leaves sooner than they should. I don't see where we're going to have a lot of good fall color because of the stress you see in the trees." Declining river flows and decreases in other water levels have prompted the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to suspend or restrict surface-water use permits to businesses, golf courses, parks departments and others in various parts of the state. The agency told 16 users, from Moorhead-based American Crystal Sugar to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project in southeast Minnesota, that their water withdrawals were being suspended until conditions improve. Some permits were suspended during last fall's dry weather; 350 were suspended in the epic drought years of 1988 and 1989, according to Greg Kruse, supervisor of the DNR's water- monitoring and surveys unit. American Crystal Sugar spokesman Jeff Schweitzer said the permits were for backup plans the company hasn't been using, so the suspensions will not affect operations. The relatively quick and late-season onset of drought conditions may have had some benefits. Unlike other farmers across the central United States, Minnesota farmers were able not just to dodge major crop losses but to actually score some wins. Sugar beet farmers might harvest a record crop and corn production may be up 7 percent. The beet crop got well-established early in the season, said American Crystal Sugar's Schweitzer; the beets, as a root crop, were able to draw moisture from the soil via a long taproot even as soils dried out. Meanwhile, low river levels are giving the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) an opportunity to study how urban development along Interstate 94 affects the flow of the Mississippi River between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. Rivers in the region are now flowing with only clear groundwater that has seeped into them, said Jim Stark, director of the USGS Minnesota Water Science Center. As a result, the agency can measure how well-water use in cities along that corridor is affecting the Mississippi's base flow rate. The two-year study began this spring. "It's fortuitous," Stark said of the low water. "It's really helpful to have it early on." The dry season While dry weather in late summer and early fall also makes crop harvesting easier and cheaper, rain that falls after crops stop growing provides moisture to start things growing next spring, Spoden noted. But the chances of such "rescue rains" diminish as autumn wears on, he said. The continuing dry conditions also have posed fire risks across Minnesota. As of Friday, fire danger in the northern two-thirds of Minnesota was rated high or very high. In the south, where the fire danger is rated moderate, the risk in the coming weeks will be fires started by combines working in the fields, said Tom Hoverstad, a scientist at the research center in Waseca. "Combine fires are a real danger in farming," he said. Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646 Ads by Google • Minnesota SnowmobilingHundreds of miles of groomed trails for the best snowmobile vacation! www.rainylake.org • related content y.41 • INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Current U.S.Drought Monitor Wednesday December 26, 2012 • more from local • Sure we fish on ice, but is that a reality show? • Financial,perjury charges leveled against Maple Grove councilwoman • Details of Obama, Senate immigration proposals Ads by Google • Video Production ServicesProfessional and Cost Effective. Call for a Free Consulation Today! mltgroup.com ■ 2013 Begins with Severe Drought Conditions The year 2012 brought lower-than-normal levels of precipitation, so 2013 starts with a deficit. James Fallon is a Hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS monitors river and stream water flow and reports low volume for this time of year. "If it stay dry, we don't have a lot of water in the system. We have the ground water but we don't have a lot of extra capacity in the river system that would normally be there for this time of year." t KSTP ' : Greg Fox farms near Rosemount, and he says concern about the current drought should spread beyond farms. "Everybody should be concerned about it no matter if you're a homeowner, or one city water, if you have your own personal well. Yea, it's a major concern." Several shallow wells in the Duluth area have run dry. Mike Convery is a Hydrologist with the Minnesota Department of Health he says dry conditions will be felt beyond the farming community. "The fact that we're in a severe doughy situation has a number of wide variety of impacts on how we do our day to day lives." And while more than 80 percent of the state is in severe drought conditions, Convery says this isn't the first time Minnesota has endured a drought. "It has happened before. It's probably been long enough that most people forgot about it, or actually experienced before." Drought strains Minnesota's water resources By Steve Kamowski on October 19, 2012 http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-19/drought-strains-minnesotas-water-resources MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—Drought conditions are straining water supplies in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, leading Minnesota officials on Thursday to urge residents to cut back on their water use. Some companies have even been ordered to switch from streams to alternative supplies. ti State officials are asking residents to forgo such things as watering their lawns and trees or washing their cars. Farmers and businesses also are being asked to curtail their water use. "We're encouraging all nonessential uses to really be curtailed and stopped," Department of Natural Resources official Dave Leuthe said during a conference call with reporters. "It really is a statewide guidance." It took longer for the drought to be felt in Minnesota than other states. But updated data from the U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday showed that nearly half the state is now in a severe or extreme drought, while the rest of the state is in at least a moderate drought. "Our soil moisture profile is dust in many places. Steam flows are low. Lake and wetland levels are down. Shallow aquifers are low," State Climatologist Greg Spoden said. Lawns and trees will go dormant and survive without water, so people should help local water utilities until they recover from the drought, said Leuthe, deputy director of the department's Ecological and Water Resources Division. Streams in some parts of the state are so low that 50 commercial users have been told to stop drawing water from them, Leuthe said. They're mostly in northeastern, north-central and southern Minnesota, he said, and they include businesses along the St. Louis River system such as the Sappi Fine Paper mill and the USG ceiling panel plant in Cloquet. Almost all of them have alternatives, such as ground water sources, so none have had to shut down or curtail operations, Leuthe said. "At this point we haven't put anybody out of jobs or had to close anything," Leuthe said. Almost all these companies have temporarily switched to alternatives such as ground water, he said. Some golf courses and sand-and-gravel companies around the state that draw water from surface supplies have also been told to stop, he said. In some areas, wells owned by private individuals have been going dry. Spoden said it's beginning to rival the extreme drought of 1988. Large areas of Minnesota have missed the equivalent of two summer months' worth of rain over the past four months, with shortfalls reaching as much as seven to 10 inches. The second-warmest July in modern state history exacerbated the problem, he said. "The situation will certainly be even more dire unless we receive some adequate late-fall over winter and early spring precipitation," Spoden said. Matthew Wohlman, assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, said the state's farmers fared better than producers in most other states affected by the drought, though yields varied from spotty to good depending on local conditions. HydroClitn Minnesota - February 2013 hydroclim-minnesota: HydroClim Minnesota Monthly Newsletter [HYDROCLIM- MINNESOTA@LISTS.UMN.EDU] on behalf of Greg Spoden [gspoden @umn.edu] Sent:Thursday, February 07,2013 9:15 AM To: HYDROCLIM-MINNESOTA©LISTS.UMN.EDU HydroClim Minnesota subscribers, The February 2013 edition of"HydroClim Minnesota", a monthly electronic newsletter summarizing Minnesota's climate conditions and the resulting impact on water resources, is posted at: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/hc1302.htm Highlights: - January precipitation totals were above historical averages across north central and northeast Minnesota. Monthly precipitation totals were below average in southwest and south central counties. Elsewhere, January precipitation was near the long-term average. For large portions of Minnesota, August 2012-through-January 2013 precipitation totals ranked below the 5th percentile historically. In southwest and south central Minnesota,June 2012-January 2013 precipitation totals were more than 10 inches below the historical average Snow depths vary widely across Minnesota. Many locations in west central Minnesota, north central Minnesota, ;nc in the Lake Superior highlands report more than 12 inches of snow cover. Whereas. the c, landscape in far southwest and south central Minnesota is nearly snow-free. For mosi of the rest of Minnesota, snow depths range from four to eight inches. - The U. S. Drought Monitor, released on February 7, continues to place large portions Minnesota in the Extreme Drought category. In total, 84% of Minnesota's landscape'is considered to be in Extreme Drought or Severe Drought. - The drought situation will likely remain unchanged until spring because the deeply frozen soil assures that very little winter precipitation will make it into the ground. As of late autumn, the soil moisture content in the plant rooting zone was near all-time low levels at many locations. Without abundant spring rains, a number of critical drought issues involving agriculture, forestry, horticulture, tourism, and public water supply will begin to emerge. Please feel free to phone or email with questions or comments concerning this product. Greg Spoden State Climatologist Minnesota Department of Natural Resources - Division of Ecological and Water Resources 439 Borlaug Hall, University of Minnesota 1991 Upper Buford Circle