Dave PetersThe Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last night launched its third project to deal with water availability differently than in the past. We asked Dan Haugen, a reporter and writer in Sioux Falls, S.D., to check out how it went. Here’s his report. BELGRADE — Central Minnesota farmers and well owners listened with skepticism and Read more →
MPR News How communities are facing the future
Archives for January 2014
Minnesota should put $100 million of its surplus into a fund to help pay for broadband infrastructure in parts of the state that now are poorly served, a state task force studying the issue is recommending. The fund, envisioned as a matching-grant program to help public and private broadband providers, could deliver service to more Read more →
What does greater Minnesota’s economy need most? More broadband. That’s the surprising takeaway from a recent, informal survey. Read more →
Elizabeth DunbarGroundwater demand in an area of central Minnesota has increased by 175 percent in the past 25 years — five times as much as the state average, according to the Department of Natural Resources. That’s a big reason the Bonanza Valley, an area that stretches from southern Douglas County to Paynesville in Stearns County, is Read more →
Who owns rural Minnesota can quickly get complicated, says the Center for Rural Policy and Development in a new issue of its journal. Read more →
Gov. Dayton’s bonding proposal to the Legislature includes money for a sewage line that could help International Falls area resorts extend their seasons and even expand. Read more →
A resident in Woodbury pays 88 cents for 1,000 gallons of water. If he or she uses a lot of water, say, for sprinkling the lawn, the price goes up — to $1.88, then $2.88, then $3.88 and so on, says Klayton Eckles, Woodbury’s public works director. • Beneath the Surface: Minnesota’s Pending Groundwater Challenge Read more →
Farmers, residents and others in the Park Rapids area are learning more tonight about a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources project to deal with, and possibly restrict, groundwater pumping. Read more →
We’ve covered extensively the discussion happening in the north and east metro over concerns about the groundwater supply. Suburbs are trying to figure out how to use less water, and the Metropolitan Council has pushed the idea of getting more cities in the region to tap into surface water from the Mississippi River. Both Minneapolis Read more →
DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr launched his agency’s new approach to groundwater management in part of the Twin Cities Wednesday, stressing that local officials have an opportunity to make better decisions than the state can by itself. Read more →