2000 Minnesota Statutes

     103B.311 County water planning and management. 

    Subdivision 1.    County duties.  Each county is 
 encouraged to develop and implement a comprehensive water plan.  
 Each county that develops and implements a plan has the duty and 
 authority to: 

    (1) prepare and adopt a comprehensive water plan that meets 
 the requirements of this section and section 103B.315; 

    (2) review water and related land resources plans and 
 official controls submitted by local units of government to 
 assure consistency with the comprehensive water plan; and 

    (3) exercise any and all powers necessary to assure 
 implementation of comprehensive water plans.  

    Subd. 2.    Delegation.  The county is responsible for 
 preparing, adopting, and assuring implementation of the 
 comprehensive water plan, but may delegate all or part of the 
 preparation of the plan to a local unit of government, a 
 regional development commission, or a resource conservation and 
 development committee.  The county may not delegate authority 
 for the exercise of eminent domain, taxation, or assessment to a 
 local unit of government that does not possess those powers.  

    Subd. 3.    Coordination.  (a) To assure the 
 coordination of efforts of all local units of government within 
 a county during the preparation and implementation of a 
 comprehensive water plan, each county intending to adopt a plan 
 shall conduct meetings with other local units of government and 
 may execute agreements with other local units of government 
 establishing the responsibilities of each unit during the 
 preparation and implementation of the comprehensive water plan. 

    (b) Each county intending to adopt a plan shall coordinate 
 its planning program with contiguous counties.  Before meeting 
 with local units of government, a county board shall notify the 
 county boards of each county contiguous to it that the county is 
 about to begin preparing its comprehensive water plan and is 
 encouraged to request and hold a joint meeting with the 
 contiguous county boards to consider the planning process.  

    Subd. 4.    Water plan requirements.  (a) A 
 comprehensive water plan must: 

    (1) cover the entire area within a county; 

    (2) address water problems in the context of watershed 
 units and groundwater systems; 

    (3) be based upon principles of sound hydrologic management 
 of water, effective environmental protection, and efficient 
 management; 

    (4) be consistent with comprehensive water plans prepared 
 by counties and watershed management organizations wholly or 
 partially within a single watershed unit or groundwater system; 
 and 

    (5) the comprehensive water plan must specify the period 
 covered by the comprehensive water plan and must extend at least 
 five years but no more than ten years from the date the board 
 approves the comprehensive water plan.  Comprehensive water 
 plans that contain revision dates inconsistent with this section 
 must comply with that date, provided it is not more than ten 
 years beyond the date of board approval.  A two-year extension 
 of the revision date of a comprehensive water plan may be 
 granted by the board, provided no projects are ordered or 
 commenced during the period of the extension. 

    (b) Existing water and related land resources plans, 
 including plans related to agricultural land preservation 
 programs developed pursuant to chapter 40A, must be fully 
 utilized in preparing the comprehensive water plan.  Duplication 
 of the existing plans is not required.  

    Subd. 5.    Watershed district and intercounty joint 
 powers board plans and rules.  A county must incorporate into 
 its comprehensive water plan any existing plans and rules 
 adopted by a watershed district or intercounty joint powers 
 board having jurisdiction wholly or partly within the county.  A 
 county may change the plans and rules it incorporates if the 
 county demonstrates in its comprehensive water plan why the 
 changes are necessary and if the changes are agreed to by each 
 county that is:  

    (1) responsible for the appointment of a manager serving on 
 the watershed board; or 

    (2) represented on the joint powers board.  

    Subd. 6.    Scope of plans.  Comprehensive water plans 
 must include: 

    (1) a description of the existing and expected changes to 
 physical environment, land use, and development in the county; 

    (2) available information about the surface water, 
 groundwater, and related land resources in the county, including 
 existing and potential distribution, availability, quality, and 
 use; 

    (3) objectives for future development, use, and 
 conservation of water and related land resources, including 
 objectives that concern water quality and quantity, and 
 sensitive areas, wellhead protection areas, high priority areas 
 for wetland preservation, enhancement, restoration, and 
 establishment, stormwater management for developing areas, and 
 related land use conditions, and a description of actions that 
 will be taken in affected watersheds or groundwater systems to 
 achieve the objectives; 

    (4) a description of potential changes in state programs, 
 policies, and requirements considered important by the county to 
 management of water resources in the county; 

    (5) a description of conflicts between the comprehensive 
 water plan and existing plans of other local units of 
 government; 

    (6) a description of possible conflicts between the 
 comprehensive water plan and existing or proposed comprehensive 
 water plans of other counties in the affected watershed units or 
 groundwater systems; 

    (7) a program for implementation of the plan that is 
 consistent with the plan's management objectives and includes 
 schedules for amending official controls and water and related 
 land resources plans of local units of government to conform 
 with the comprehensive water plan, and the schedule, components, 
 and expected state and local costs of any projects to implement 
 the comprehensive water plan that may be proposed, although this 
 does not mean that projects are required by this section; and 

    (8) a procedure for amending the comprehensive water plan.  

    Subd. 7.    Data acquisition.  The data collected under 
 this section that has common value as determined by the 
 commissioner of administration for natural resources planning 
 must be provided and integrated into the Minnesota land 
 management information systems geographic and summary databases 
 according to published data compatibility guidelines.  

    HIST: 1990 c 391 art 2 s 19; 1991 c 345 art 2 s 13; 1991 c 354 
 art 2 s 3; 1992 c 514 s 14; 1995 c 184 s 24,25