Public hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday

A water management plan for Koochiching County is continuing to move through the process of being adopted.
A public hearing on the plan is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday in the courthouse boardroom.
The surface waters in the county that have been sampled either meet or exceed current water quality standards for conventional pollutants, according to the plan. An exception to the good water quality in the county is the impairment of the Littlefork River because of turbidity, meaning that the depth of photosynthesis and the feeding ability of aquatic organisms is reduced.
The plan is meant to protect water resources in the county and address the Littlefork River’s turbidity impairment, according to the plan, which was given to the Koochiching County Board June 5.
The plan is not expected to directly affect people in Koochiching County. Rather its a plan to protect and improve the water quality in the county.
The priority concerns the plan is designed to address are erosion, subsurface sewage treatment systems, education and collaboration, monitoring, protection of water quality and forestry.
From the priority concerns, a committee of 16 members developed a total of 14 goals, 45 objectives and 17 action plans that will be implemented over the next 10 years.
Each action plan is categorized into low, medium and high priority. The high priority action plans call for adopting a new zoning ordinance by the end of 2007 which incorporates provisions for shore land protection, seeking grant or loan money to help low-income households afford new or upgraded septic systems and using storm water runoff evaluation methodologies in evaluating community-wide impacts of runoff.
The total cost for implementing the water management plan over the next 10 years is over $4 million, but several costs for implementation are unknown.
The new water plan is the third for Koochiching County. The original plan was adopted in 1995 and the second in 2000.
The deadline for adoption is July 27. The minutes of the hearing are expected to go to the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, which is expected to review the plan in August, Environmental Services Director Richard Lehtinen told the county board June 5.
While the plan is not required by BWSR, Koochiching County’s Environmental Services Department can’t receive grant money from BWSR without having a water management plan in place. ESD receives more than $30,000 in grant money from BWSR, a large amount of which funds the budget for the Koochiching Soil and Water Conservation District.
Koochiching SWCD will handle the administration and reporting involved in implementing the plan.
The Water Management Plan Advisory Committee that created the plan consisted of representatives from ESD, SWCD, Koochiching County Board, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Koochiching Public Health Department, BWSR, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Conservation Service. Several community members are also on the committee.
The committee began meeting to discuss the plan in September 2006 and considered priority concerns from two plans, the update of the Koochiching Comprehensive Water Management Plan in 2000 and the Rainy River Basin Plan 2004, as well as adding its own concerns.
A Priority Concerns Scoping Document, which outlined the priority concerns the water management plan’s goals and objectives are based on, was circulated in mid-January for review by state and federal agencies. The BWSR Regional Board formally approved the scoping document after a March 12 meeting.