At a workshop meeting with the board of commissioners Wednesday, Jason Weinerman of the Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources (BWSR) introduced a pilot program that will hopefully help water management throughout the state.

 

Known as One Watershed, One Plan, the program will attempt to help jurisdictions with existing plans coordinate their efforts to better manage Minnesota waters.

 

Weinerman said about four years ago, the Minnesota legislature looked at the water planning process throughout the state. After it was discovered BWSR had  more than 200 plans they had to review on a regular basis, legislators decided it was too many.

 

“They (plans) are spread throughout watershed districts, counties and soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs),” said Weinerman.

 

The Association of Minnesota Counties, Minnesota Association of SWCDs and the Association of Watershed Districts attempted to find a system to unify water planning and reduce the number of plans to manage water more effectively. They put together concept of managing water on a watershed basis. 

 

“Right now it’s managed on jurisdictional lines. It’s either county, watershed district and in some cases it’s split between counties,” said Weinerman. “Right now the Elk River Watershed Association has two plans, a Benton County plan and a Sherburne County plan.”

 

Weinerman said that type of setup doesn’t really address resources they way they should.

 

“If you look at current county water plans, water appears at the county boundary, the county has management of the water within the county, then it leaves the county,” he said. “No one knows where it goes and they don’t really care because it’s not their problem anymore.”

 

When water is managed on a watershed basis, it starts with the water from where the rainfall hits to where it leaves the system.

 

Weinerman said the program will help coordinate the plans between jurisdictions within watershed districts.

 

“This is to facilitate communication across boundaries,” he said. “So Sherburne County will talk with Stearns County, Benton County and Wright County in a more coherent organized framework.”

 

Commissioner Rachel Leonard was concerned there would be a new bureaucracy created that could establish a budget and require local jurisdictions to levy money to pay for water projects.

 

Tiffany Determan of Sherburne SWCD said that isn’t the case. She said the existing county water plan has already identified almost $600,000 in projects. But that doesn’t mean there is any mandate to move ahead with the projects.

 

“It’s not a new level of government. Every jurisdiction will still remain intact. Whatever is needed to fix the waters is all voluntary,” said Weinerman. “We’re not asking you to self-levy for this. We’re not asking you to raise the money to fix the problems by yourself. The plan is going to allow BWSR to go back to the legislature and show how much the system  needs in order to fix the problem.”

 

Weinerman said BWSR currently has almost $500,000 in appropriations to help watershed areas in the planning stage.

 

“We’re looking at three or four watershed areas to develop pilot plans,” he said. “Should this region be selected, the entities will develop a planning framework which is approved by BWSR.”

 

Sherburne County is part of the Mississippi River - St. Cloud Watershed, which covers 691,200 acres (1,080 square miles) in the south-central part of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The watershed includes all or parts of Benton, Meeker, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Sherburne, Stearns and Wright counties. The watershed has 907 total river miles, and 374 lakes with a total acreage of 23,728.

 

Determan said Sherburne SWCD will be applying for the program. Watershed areas accepted will be notified in June. Then watersheds will be given the process of developing some form of operating agreement.