Minnesota Water Resources Conference - Water Resources Center ...

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
Tuesday, Monday, October 27 23
Concurrent Sessions I 10:00–11:30
Track C: Fresh Water Sustainability
Concepts of Freshwater Sustainability
John Nieber, University of Minnesota, nieber@umn.edu; Roman Kanivetsky, University of Minnesota; Boris Shmagin, South
Dakota State University; David Mulla, University of Minnesota; Heidi Peterson, University of Minnesota; and Francisco Lahoud,
University of Minnesota
Increasing demands on freshwater resources are putting the quantity and quality of water resources in the
United States and most of the rest of the world at risk. To ward off detrimental effects in the future it will
be necessary for mankind to adopt planning strategies that take full account of the principles of resource
sustainability. Simply stated these principles mean that one should not use more of the resource than that part
of the resource that is regularly replenished. In this presentation we will outline the details of the principles of
sustainability as they apply to freshwater resources sustainability, and we will show how the concepts can be
applied to planning for sustaining the water resources of Minnesota.
Building a Framework for Sustainable Water Management in Minnesota
John Wells, Minnesota Environmental Quality Board, john.wells@state.mn.us; Princesa VanBuren, Minnesota Environmental
Quality Board
Minnesota needs a regional framework for evaluating how planning, policy and regulatory decisions may
affect future water availability. Understanding the cumulative significance of future population and land
use changes, commercial and industrial expansion, and energy development on Minnesota’s human and
ecological communities is a key to water sustainability. The need became apparent to the Pollution Control
Agency in its environmental review of ethanol production facilities. And, as a result of that board’s request, the
Environmental Quality Board convened an interagency group to evaluate elements of a framework to ensure
the sustainable management of water. The presentation will report on the results of the project, scheduled to
be completed in September 2008, including its proposed framework and supporting GIS tool, as well as the
information needed at both the regional and site-specific scales for ensuring that Minnesota manages its water
resources on a long-term sustainable basis.
Water Use Conflicts and Resource Sustainability in Minnesota
Julie Ekman, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, julie.ekman@dnr.state.mn.us
In 1937, near the end of the drought of the 1930’s, the Minnesota legislature established a water policy for the
state and a permit program to regulate water use. Droughts and increased demands for water continue to shape
Minnesota’s water use laws to this day. This presentation will provide a history of Minnesota’s water use laws
and how the water appropriation permit program addresses water use conflicts and the long-term sustainability
of water supplies. Pressures and challenges facing the future of water resource management in Minnesota will
be highlighted in case studies related to the rapid expansion of the ethanol industry and growing demands for
public water supplies.
21 Minnesota Water Resources Conference, October 27–28, 2008