by Dave DeMars
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources representatives met with farmers, businesspersons and other concerned citizens at Rice City Hall on March 30 to discuss water issues in the Little Rock Creek watershed area.
DNR Project Manager Mark Hauck said there is a possibility water resources in the area, while abundant, are not unlimited and could become exhausted in the future.
The focus of the meeting was to develop a plan to guide DNR groundwater-management actions during the next five years in the Little Rock Creek area.
Groundwater
Groundwater is found underground in the spaces between soil, rocks and sand. It moves through the spaces and collects in large underground reservoirs called aquifers.
Water laws define water as a public resource and so no one “owns” it. The State of Minnesota, under its constitution and on behalf of its citizens, is charged with protecting the resource and administering programs that ensure the quality of the water, its adequate supply and its sustainability in the future.
There has been increased groundwater use in the Little Rock Creek area because of increases in irrigation, increases in population and new well demands, weather factors and increases in industry in the area. All of those things in aggregate place a strain on the supply of water in the area.
Steve Colvin is the deputy director of the DNR’s division of ecological and water resources. He said the problem is not unique to the Little Rock Creek area and the DNR is studying similar problems – for example, in Cold Spring Creek near Cold Spring.
In the first LRC Project meeting, the DNR laid out its objectives: to increase water access, provide predictability, enhance coordination in water use and provide for sustainability in the area. The Minnesota DNR plans to accomplish these objectives by getting advice and information from people who live in the area, creating a template for groundwater management and implementing the plans throughout a period of years.
Little Rock area
The Little Rock Creek area stretches from Little Rock Lake southeast of Rice, north and east of Royalton, encompassing Buckman, until it nearly reaches the towns of Genola and Hillman. On the southern plane, it stretches from the Mississippi River just west of Rice east to Highway 25 just west of Foley.
“We did some individual analyses of permit applications and those showed effects, predictive effects to drawdowns or reductions of flow to Little Rock Creek,” Colvin said.
Colvin went on to say another study suggested stream depletion during the mid-summer would be on the order of 50 percent of normal flow in Little Rock Creek.
“That’s important not just because it’s a trout stream – obviously it’s not good for trout – but it’s not good for any critter that has to use that stream,” Colvin said.
Reactions of attendees seemed to be somewhat skeptical, and a number of audience members questioned the timeliness of the data used and even its accuracy.
Colvin said the nature of streams changes year to year, and even month to month, depending on the precipitation patterns, but in the long term, there are some patterns causing increased concern.
Steve Thompson, a hydrogeology unit supervisor, explained how the DNR monitored the wells, such as the general flow of the water in a given area and how it’s affected by geology, and how pumping from irrigation wells affected the availability and sustainability of the groundwater in the area.
“We’ve heard loud and clear from all of you about using good science and good data,” said Dan Lais, the central region north district manager.
“We want to be more transparent – we’ve heard that loud and clear – that we need to have you along with us as we are trying to understand this information and data,” Lais said.
“There certainly continues to be some concern among the people there just in terms of their wanting to know how all this is going to work out,” said Harland Hiemstra, the DNR public affairs officer.