1.1 A bill for an act
1.2 relating to environment; facilitating use of artificial aquifer recharge where
1.3 appropriate; appropriating money for groundwater storage and recovery; amending
1.4 Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 103A.204.
1.5BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
1.6 Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 103A.204, is amended to read:
1.7 103A.204 GROUNDWATER POLICY.
1.8 (a) The responsibility for the protection of groundwater in Minnesota is vested in a
1.9multiagency approach to management. The following is a list of agencies and the groundwater
1.10protection areas for which the agencies are primarily responsible; the list is not intended to
1.11restrict the areas of responsibility to only those specified:
1.12 (1) Environmental Quality Board: coordination of state groundwater protection programs;
1.13 (2) Pollution Control Agency: water quality monitoring and reporting and the
1.14development of best management practices and regulatory mechanisms for protection of
1.15groundwater from nonagricultural chemical contaminants;
1.16 (3) Department of Agriculture: sustainable agriculture, integrated pest management,
1.17water quality monitoring, and the development of best management practices and regulatory
1.18mechanisms for protection of groundwater from agricultural chemical contaminants;
1.19 (4) Board of Water and Soil Resources: reporting on groundwater education and outreach
1.20with local government officials, local water planning and management, and local cost-share
1.21programs;
1Section 1.
REVISOR CKM/AD 25-0160912/20/24
State of Minnesota
This Document can be made available
in alternative formats upon request
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H. F. No. 1207
NINETY-FOURTH SESSION 2.1 (5) Department of Natural Resources: water quantity monitoring and regulation,
2.2sensitivity mapping, and development of a plan for the use of integrated pest management
2.3and sustainable agriculture on state-owned lands; and
2.4 (6) Department of Health: regulation of wells and borings, and the development of health
2.5risk limits under section 103H.201.
2.6 (b) The Environmental Quality Board shall prepare a report on policy issues related to
2.7its responsibilities listed in paragraph (a), and include these reports with the assessments in
2.8section 103A.43 and the "Minnesota Water Plan" in section 103B.151.
2.9 (c) Where groundwater levels are depleted and not naturally recovering with sufficient
2.10speed, it is the policy of the state that artificial recharge options be considered and
2.11implemented where feasible and appropriate.
2.12 Sec. 2. GROUNDWATER STORAGE AND RECOVERY.
2.13 Subdivision 1.Appropriation.$....... in fiscal year 2026 is appropriated from the general
2.14fund to the commissioner of natural resources to complete a centralized aquifer-property
2.15database to provide needed data for site characterization. This is a onetime appropriation.
2.16 Subd. 2.Department of Health duties.The commissioner of health must:
2.17 (1) develop a decision-support system and cost-benefit analysis tool for interested parties
2.18to evaluate the potential to use aquifer storage and recovery;
2.19 (2) apply to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for primacy over class
2.20V injection wells;
2.21 (3) modify Minnesota Statutes, chapter 103I, to allow injection wells in aquifer storage
2.22and recovery projects that meet specified design criteria; and
2.23 (4) develop a process for well permitting with engineering and environmental details,
2.24including source water, aquifer, pre- and post-treatment, reporting, and monitoring
2.25requirements.
2Sec. 2.
REVISOR CKM/AD 25-0160912/20/24