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Faher asked again about the wildlife habitat. Kramer said that cutting down old trees was sad, but Minneapolis purchased the site to supply water for the City of Minneapolis. Faher said that, as for environmental impact, another site would be less damaging. Whitaker said the City of Minneapolis would eventually develop all the sites to provide Minneapolis and the seven suburbs with a two-day water supply. The Hilltop site is important to the City of Minneapolis’ emergency planning because of the gravity factor in a power outage. Kramer mentioned all of the sites have woods and wildlife. Josie Thomas asked if the Edina site has the same type of habitat as the New Brighton site. Whitaker responded part of the Edina site is heavily wooded and part is open. There is deer on the Fridley site. Whitaker said he understood the residents’ concerns and perhaps Minneapolis could talk to the DNR to see if something could be done about the site. Faher asked why all the reservoirs are on the north side of Minneapolis. Kramer answered that is the location of the water treatment plant. Whitaker outlined the history of the Minneapolis Water Works. The City of Minneapolis established the Water Works in 1867 to fight mill fires. In 1872, Minneapolis built the first pump station on the site of the old Fujiya restaurant. During the cholera and typhoid epidemic at the turn of the century, the water supply kept moving upstream because of contamination by the sewer system. Belgium began chlorinating water in 1902 and Minneapolis began chlorinating in 1910. Minneapolis pumped water from the river at Camden to the open reservoirs in Columbia Heights. Faher asked what is the emergency for which Minneapolis is planning. Kramer said Minneapolis studied four different scenarios with a consultant: a short-term spill in the river, a long-term spill in the river, a plant emergency caused by weather, or a draw-down situation. Kramer gave a detailed summary of the water works emergency plans. Josie Thomas said it was always difficult to argue for animals or aesthetics against other needs. Thomas asked if the Minneapolis Water Works is really saying that this is only one site with any elevation available. Kramer answered that, of the available sites, the New Brighton site is the highest point in the Metropolitan area. Normally, the Waterworks operates by feeding water by gravity into the system and by pumping water into the system. Those pressures must match. If the Water Works operated at a lower point, we could not match the pressure. Whitaker interjected that the New Brighton site is the only site from which we can feed water to Minneapolis by gravity without a pump station. O’Brien asked if the City of Minneapolis has generators available during a power outage. Kramer answered they cannot keep the water supply running by using a generator. We would require a huge generator and is impractical. The City of Minneapolis spends about $2 million on electrical costs. In case of an emergency, there is no way to generate enough power to handle the capacity. Kramer said the proposed reservoir would be a part of the Minneapolis Water Works emergency plan to have a two-day water supply. The Water Works planning is part of the City of Minneapolis’ overall emergency plan. The City of Minneapolis and the Corps of Engineers have studied how to handle a chemical spill in the river, identified potential spill sites, developed a computer program to decide how long it takes for a spill to pass, and many other components of a complete emergency plan. The City of Minneapolis is also negotiating with the City of St. Paul on a possible interconnection. I:\COMMISSIONS\PLANNING\MINUTES\1996\09-17-96.WPD 4