Clean Water:
Prominent Minnesota conservationist John Helland is regularly monitoring the implementation of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment for Conservation Minnesota.
It's interesting when one looks at the constitutional amendment language - Minnesota Constitution, Article XI, Section 15 - to realize that the strongest mandate for expenditure of funds is for the Sustainable Drinking Water Account. This is the account from the Clean Water Fund that states: "...at least five percent of the clean water fund must be spent only to protect drinking water sources" In legislative parlance, "must be" is a strong mandate without wavering. The separate funds in the constitutional amendment language for outdoor heritage, clean water, parks and trails, and arts and cultural all state "may be spent" for the purposes outlined. While this could be construed as being "permissive," therefore not being a mandate, it is highly doubtful the legislature would ever waver from spending the new sales tax money for the constitutional amendment purposes.
The five percent that must be spent from the new account amounts to approximately $4 million annually. Recently, the state Department of Health, which has responsibility for protecting drinking water sources, has come out with two proposals to capture the new money. The first would establish a Center for Emerging Drinking Water Contaminants that would study and interpret health risks from contaminants where no drinking water standards have yet been established. Because of the comprehensive Groundwater Protection Law of 20 years ago, much of this work would involve risk assessment research by the department.
The second proposal would provide more source water protection (wellhead) efforts and techniques to protect community public water supplies. It would involve a combination of small grant monies and a loan program to communities needing it. Both of these proposals, if funded with the new money, would go a long way in furthering some of the initial goals of the Groundwater Protection Law.
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