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Public-health expert urges clearer governance and support for private wells in state drinking-water plan
Summary
Dr. (name on transcript) told the subcommittee the Minnesota Department of Health’s drinking-water action plan is timely but needs statutory clarity about leadership and more support for private wells, which fall outside federal Safe Drinking Water Act protections.
St. Paul — A University of Minnesota faculty member and contributor to the Minnesota Department of Health’s 10-year drinking-water action plan briefed the Subcommittee on Minnesota Water Policy Dec. 3 and urged statutory changes to clarify leadership among agencies and additional attention to private wells.
Dr. Kalao (as identified in the meeting transcript) said Minnesota generally performs well on public drinking-water compliance but faces future pressures from aging infrastructure, climate change, emerging contaminants and demographic shifts. He said the plan offers a long-term approach but highlighted gaps in governance and the treatment of private wells.
“Who takes responsibility for that in statutes? Not clear,” the speaker said, describing overlapping responsibilities for issues such as nitrate contamination, where agricultural sources (Department of Agriculture), groundwater monitoring (MPCA) and drinking-water regulation (Minnesota Department of Health) involve different agencies.
On private wells, which are outside the Safe Drinking Water Act because they are on private property, Dr. Kalao said owners “miss out on the same care and attention given by the MDH to all the rest of us who drink public water” and recommended considering more direct MDH involvement, funded through federal or state support and guided by a cost-benefit analysis.
The presenter said the drinking-water action plan is now past the public-comment stage and that the plan’s consultation phase is complete. He recommended a statutory prescription of leadership responsibility for implementing the plan and suggested further analysis and funding to expand testing and interventions for private wells.
No formal action was taken by the subcommittee; members thanked the presenter and noted links to the published plan and related commentary would be available to members for review.
