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4188.5 <br />TO: Mayor and City Council APR 1119L8 <br />FROM: Mark Bernhardson, City Administrator <br />DATE: April 1, 1988 !j E OF ORGMU <br />SUBJECT: Lake Minnetonka Lake Level <br />Attachment: A. Art Finkelstein Letter Dated 3/15/88 <br />B. Lake Minnetonka Lake Level Report Dated 3/17/88 <br />ISSUE <br />1. Determination of Council response to Attachment A. <br />INTRODUCTION - On March 16th the City received a letter from Art <br />Finkelstein, 1720 Shadywood Road, regarding his concerns on the <br />lake level. The Council has for a long time monitored the lake <br />level and it has been Council direction to work to have a "cross <br />representation" between the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District <br />and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Board, who regulate <br />the lake level via Grays Bay dam. <br />DISCUSSION -- The lake level of Lake Minnetonka is a function of <br />contributions made to it in various forms together with various <br />means by which water leaves the lake. The following represent <br />the major items: <br />CONTRIBUTIONS <br />- Rainfall/snowfall <br />- Underground pumping <br />- Amount of runoff from precipitation in the watershed <br />WITHDRAWALS <br />F.vaporat3on (function of temperatures/humidity <br />and winds) <br />- Outflows over the Grays Bay dam <br />- Aquifer/lake interaction <br />- Pumping out of the lake <br />As noted by the fact that the lake level has varied markedly over <br />the last year and there has been no outflow over the dam, the <br />principal lowering of the lake level has been the lack of <br />precipitation coupled with evaporation together with an unknown, <br />aquifer/ lake interface, w`iich may drain out a portion of it. <br />(Dependent to some degree on amount of water in the aquifer.) <br />Balancing of Lake and Creek Usage - The Minnehaha Creek Watershed <br />District, whose Board is mostly of people downstream from the <br />trays Bay dam, has the means afforded it to try and balance the <br />ne—is of both the lake people and creek people as to how much <br />water there is in the creek. This is both an issue of high water <br />for lake and creek people when there is ..n over abundance of <br />precipitation and a lower level when there has been a lack of <br />1 <br />