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<br />Dear ~7avicl,
<br />''lou aslced about private welts in a city. ~~rhat ray a ciy do co protect the ~~vater resources? i his is a tricky issue without a clear
<br />answer, Basically, there is an argument. chat cities have the authority to pass an ordinance banning private Uvells in city boundaries
<br />but the ci~j attorney has to be the one to actually advise the city because it is not as clear as one rnight li!{e,
<br />A colleague, staff A~torney Edward Cadman, provided this response when yous• question was asked previously:
<br />'i here are various agencies that regulate various aspects of ground wader in Minnesota see
<br />htt :1 tlvww,nextste ,state"mn,us doinrnlaadlGrau,~d~Uater Director ~,ad~, However, only cities have explicit authori~~j to
<br />regulate by ordinance the use. of welts and other means of water supply. See Minn, Stat, ~ 4~Z.~~~., subd, ~~ --
<br />httos: u+~w~~r,revisor~legrstate,m~~,uslstatutes'?ia~~ ~ ~,~~~, ~ can't tell you exactly how far to interpret this author^i'cy, since
<br />it could be read to allow far regulation only of those wells "provided" by cities, Haw a citrj ~shoutd read this statute is far a
<br />city's attorney ~o decide since there's apparently no case law on it,
<br />What mattes the use. regulation more clearly compelling for me is subdivision 3~ of that same s~atu~~. Tt says the city has
<br />the ability to regulate to promote health, safety and welfare. And ~~here cad surely be a. health, safety and welfare~concern
<br />in maintenance of a city's water table. ~ne.legal encyclopedia says "~m~unicipal corporations ordinar.ity have paver to
<br />regulate the drilling and operation of wells within their confines, at least where the regulation is necessary to the public
<br />health, safety or welfare, Such an ordinance must be reasonably and not discriminaton~," ~MUNIC~RP ~ 24:~6s}.
<br />In Minnesota, the regulation of the drilling is handled by the department of health under MN Statutes ch. ~,03~~
<br />(htt s: www,revisor,le ,state,rnn.uslstatutes did= ~ 03~ }, but ~ see nothing preventing the rest of that entry being true far
<br />our state, and "aperatioi7" means use,
<br />Anecdotally, we da see cities prohibit private wells within their borders, here are a couple sample ordinance from
<br />Minnesota Rural water which ba~~ private wells: htt ; Iwww"mrwa,comlwaterord4,htm and
<br />h~tp:ll~vvvw.mrwa,camlwaterore6,htm however, this could b~ construed~as more of an exercise i~n power to regulate land
<br />use than a power to regulate well use, And what I don't see immediately are ordinances where the use of private wells is
<br />curtailed short of a~ prohibition,
<br />~n the contrary, z see samples such as that of Shorewood thttp.ll~~v~~yw~ci"shar~Uraad"mn,us%~ageslem~~~tlyard.h~n~l },
<br />Eden Prairie shit :11~1v~nlw.ci,ede~~-arairie.mn,us vCu~°rent live;article,asa?r~~a36) and Prior Lake
<br />http; ~~vuv~lv,cit~ afgriartake,comlpublic l~ra~"ks en ine¢rin shcml which exempt private veils Pram their watering
<br />restrictions,
<br />hht~+~~ll~,~,;i ~; P~1r..ri`r~r mn i~clFxrh~~aP/~lhPrv'(a~~~~~~']~'P,T'llfl~ll'1P,~.C~11'll~nh(~XI~IIQL~1~~l,E~~~.., 4~~~~~~~~
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