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March 18,1999 <br />RECEIVED <br />MAR 1 8 1999 <br />011'Y OF OROMO <br />4801 Minneapolis Ave. <br />Minnetrista, MN 55364 <br />Mr. Ron Moorse <br />City Administrator <br />City of Orono <br />Box 66 Crystal Bay Rd. <br />Orono, MN 55323 <br />Dear Mr. Moorse: <br />As you know, Mr. Tom Maple has resigned from the Minnehaha Creek <br />Watershed District. Hennepin County is currently seeking candidates for the <br />open board position. I have applied for the open position and would like to ask <br />the City of Orono for a letter of support. <br />The issues the MCWD had to deal with during the first twenty years were quite <br />different from those of the last 10 years. In the late 1960’s, just prior to the <br />formation of the MCWD, lakes were severely damaged from unrestricted flow of <br />highly polluted water into the watershed. The primary culprit was point source <br />discharges, such as overflows from wastewater treatment plants. The MCWD <br />along with City, County and State governments worked together to solve the <br />problem. Due to the severity of the pollution, the focus for the MCWD was in <br />dealing with the existing poor water quality of the watershed and the <br />improvements were significant during that first 20 years of the MCWD existence. <br />The story is different over the last 10 years. There still are lakes and bays that <br />have degraded water quality. These water bodies have been identified and <br />solutions proposed. However, much of the remaining damage is from non-point <br />source pollutants. The large capital improvement type fixes are not as effective <br />resulting in the cost for pounds of pollutant removed skyrocketing. Meanwhile, <br />the MCWD has moved away from working with the cities within the watershed to <br />imposing rules that restrict/punish certain behavior. This has created an <br />adversarial relationship between the parties who need to work together to solve <br />the upcoming problems. <br />There is a need to review the watershed management strategies being used by <br />the MCWD. With the governor’s call for an efficient mass transit system within <br />Hennepin County and the extension of Hwy 12 west of Wayzata, both the upper <br />and lower portions of the watershed is going to undergo substantial development