ST. PAUL, Minn. — Increased demands on water are starting to affect the northeast sections of Minneapolis and St. Paul, according to an article by Minnesota Public Radio.
According to the article, urban planners on the Metropolitan Council are trying to find alternative water sources to the current aquifer and nearby White Bear Lake, and their main candidate is the Mississippi River a little over 10 miles away.
Using the river’s water would mean making it potable through St. Paul’s underused water treatment system and pumping it to other cities, the article reported, pumping it directly into White Bear Lake or building a new regional treatment plant.
“We don’t want to see, by 2030, some city’s municipal well going dry or other lakes going dry,” said Ali Elhassan, manager of water supply planning for the Metropolitan Council.
Local cities like Hugo have begun large-scale conservation efforts in the meantime to cut back water use, mostly plans to use storm water for landscape irrigation, where half the city’s water is used, according to the article.
Read the full article here.
