by John Gessner
Thisweek Newspapers

Every day 10 million gallons of water is pumped from the Edward Kraemer and Sons mining quarry in Burnsville into the Minnesota River.

For years, Burnsville and surrounding cities have studied ways to recapture some of the water for use by their residents and businesses.

Until now, no one has been able to make the finances work.

A $6 million state grant would do that.

The city is seeking $6 million in the Legislatureís 2004 bonding bill to build a plant to treat water now being pumped from the quarry floor. The ìdewateringî keeps the quarry, which supplies aggregate products for construction projects, from being flooded with groundwater.

Proponents say the plant deserves state funding because of the stateís keen interest in preserving groundwater in the area.

With water from the Kraemer plant, the city of Burnsville probably wouldnít have to drill two planned wells in the Jordan aquifer. The aquifer supports the government-protected Savage and Burnsville fens, which harbor rare plant species, as well as the Eagle Creek trout stream and Boiling Springs formation in Savage.

To preserve groundwater and protect those depleted features, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requires area cities to take steps to conserve water before being granted new well permits.

The bonding request faces an ìuphill battleî but is gaining bipartisan support in the Legislature, said chief House sponsor Rep. Duke Powell, R-Burnsville.

It would be the first such arrangement in Minnesota, he said.

ìThis is something that the state should be doing,î said Powell, who represents District 40A. ìThis is what bonding should be for. And I think people have a sense of that.î

The chief Senate sponsor is Sen. Bill Belanger, R-Bloomington, whose District 40 includes most of Burnsville.

The plant would be built on Kraemer and Sons property west of I-35W and probably be operated by the city of Burnsville, said Dave Edmunds, executive vice president of the Wisconsin-based companyís materials division.

The $12 million plant would provide 4 million gallons of water per day and could be expanded to provide 6 million.

Burnsvilleís DNR-approved plans for two new wells to finish construction of its municipal water system are on hold pending the outcome of the legislation, said Mitch Rasmussen, the cityís director of engineering and infrastructure.

ìWe certainly see that 4 million [gallons] would push us a long way into the future, and potentially be all that we could need,î Rasmussen said.

Savage and Lakeville ó which have faced roadblocks in getting well permits from the DNR ó might also be interested in using the Kraemer water, Edmunds said.

ìBoth city councils are willing to pass a resolution saying they support the project and will participate if the economics are acceptable,î Edmunds said.

Kraemer and Sons would contribute to the project cash and land totaling about $3 million. Participating cities would contribute the remaining $3 million.

Talks with Burnsville officials stalled last summer, when they said treatment costs under Kraemer and Sonsí preliminary plans were too high, Edmunds said. The quarry water is classified as surface water. Under Minnesota Department of Health rules, treating surface water is more expensive than treating groundwater.

The company redid the plans and talks resumed. The cost of treating 1,000 gallons of surface water at the plant is now estimated at about 90 cents ó some 20 cents more than the cost of treating 1,000 gallons of municipal groundwater, according to Powell.

ìWhich is an awful lot better than what they were able to come up with before,î he said. ìThatís what makes it competitive.î

Said Rasmussen, ìWe wonít pursue this if it involves increasing rates to the customer. That was kind of the bottom line all along.î

The companyís interest in the project is preserving access to limestone in the quarry, which will continue to be mined for about 15 more years.

The company has a DNR permit to pump 4 billion gallons of water a year into the river. If it ever had to displace more water to maintain access to limestone, managing it on site would be expensive, Edmunds said. The treatment plant would eliminate potential problems by removing 1.4 billion gallons a year.

ìWeíre very fortunate here in the metro area to have a third of the stateís gravel production in northern Dakota County, close to where itís needed,î Powell said. ìWhat we need to do is try to keep the cost of that aggregate as competitive as possible.î

Details of the project were finalized too late to submit the bonding request to Gov. Tim Pawlenty for inclusion in his $760 million bonding proposal.

Several area Republicans are co-authoring the request, along with a couple of DFL lawmakers. One of the backers is Rep. Dennis Ozment, R-Rosemount, who chairs the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee.

ìTo be able to reclaim a resource like this that weíre just wasting is an excellent idea,î Powell said. ìHe [Ozment] thought this could be a model for other areas.î

John Gessner is at burnsville.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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