HiawathaGolfCourse

MinneapolisPark&RecreationBoard
CityofMinneapolis
MinnehahaCreekWatershedDistrict

Update on investigations
13/14 June 2016

Meeting purpose
Thismeetingisabriefingwithtwoprimarygoals:
o Tosharefindingsofthecollaborativeinvestigationsthat
startedinOctober2015andwererecentlycompleted.
o Toprovideupdatesontheinvestigationsto:
nearbypropertyowners
generalpublicandinterestedstakeholders

Original golf course goals

Workwasinitiatedunderacooperativeagreement
betweencity,watersheddistrict,andMPRB
Thethreeentitieslookedatreconfigurationofthegolf
coursefollowingfloodinginJuneandJuly2014with
threebroadgoals:
o Developconceptstorestorethegolfcourse
o Improvetheecologyofthecreekthroughthegolfcourse
property
o Considerwaterqualityoptions,includingforthepipefrom
thenorththatemptiesintoLakeHiawatha
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Distinguishing inputs to the lake

o East43rd Streetpipe
o MinnehahaCreek
o Golfcoursepondsand
pumps

Original golf course goals

Effortsrelatedtogolfcoursereconfigurationwere
suspendedwhenwebegantounderstandthevolume
ofwaterbeingpumpedfromthegolfcourse

Primary issue
TheMPRBhasbeenpumpingstormwater and
groundwaterfrompondsonthegolfcoursetoLake
Hiawathasincethe1960s
Inlate2015,thevolumeofwaterpumpedfrom
HiawathaGolfCoursewasdiscoveredtobefargreater
thanallowedbyaGroundwaterAppropriationPermit
issuedbytheMinnesotaDepartmentofNatural
Resourcesin1993
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Investigations
Understandingtheamountofwaterpumpedfromthe
golfcourserequiredthatwe:
o Gatherexistinggroundwaterdataanddevelopa
groundwatermodel
o Developastormwater modeltounderstandnon
groundwaterinflowstotheponds
o Understandtheinteractionofgroundwaterand
stormwater underavarietyofhighwaterandflooding
scenarios

Investigations
Tounderstandgroundwater,weperformedaseriesof
technicalanalyses
o Monitoredgroundwaterlevelusingwellsandpiezometers
o Quantifiedgroundwaterpumping
o Analyzedisotopesandcations todeterminethesourceof
groundwaterbeingpumped
o Assessedgroundwaterandlakewaterquality
o Evaluatedthedeepandshallowgroundwaterrelationship
o Observedrecoveryrateofpondswithpumpsoff
o Developedgroundwatermodel
o Evaluatedpotentialeffectsofnotpumping
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Measuring devices

PondE

o
o
o
o

Monitoringwells
Piezometers
Staffgauges
Flowmeters

Measuring devices
Measuredgroundwaterelevationusingpiezometers
andmonitoringwells
Measuredsurfacewaterelevationwithstaffgauges
o Installed4monitoringwells,3piezometers,and3staff
gaugesinOctoberandNovember2015
o Allowedforassessmentofconnectionbetweengolfcourse
pondsandgroundwater
o Allowedforreviewofshallowgroundwatertodeep
groundwaterrelationship
o Usedforcalibrationofhydrologicmodels
o Allowedforextrapolationofgroundwaterelevationsto
nearbyprivateproperties
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Investigations: pumped water

Measuredpumpedwaterusingflowmeters
o FlowmetersinstalledintwopumpsinNovember2015
o Allowedforthecalculationofareasonableestimateof
volumeofwaterpumpedannually
o Approximately263milliongallonsofgroundwaterpumped
annuallyaccordingtomeasurementsandcalculations

10

Investigations: pumped water

o ThecurrentappropriationspermitfortheMPRBis36.5million
gallonsperyear
o TheestimatedvolumeofgroundwaterpumpedfromHiawatha
GolfCourseis263milliongallonsperyear
o BasedontheMinnesotaDepartmentofNaturalResources
activeappropriationspermitdatabase,thisvolumeis:
Greaterthan70%oftheotherappropriationsintheTwin
Citiessevencountymetro
Greaterthan83%oftheotherappropriationsintheState
o Thispumpingrateissimilartothepermittedratesfora
municipalwatersupplywellforasmall tomediumsizedtown

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Investigations: groundwater pumped

(70gpm)
groundwater

(100gpm)
groundwater

(137gpm)
groundwater

Netinflowtoponds
o 40%ofinflowisfromLake
Hiawatha(lakeseepage)
(196gpm)
o 60%ofinflowisregional
groundwater
o 263milliongallonsof
groundwaterpumped
annually
o 55milliongallonsof
stormwater pumpedannually
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Investigations: water quality

Measuringqualityofpumpedwaterasacomparisonto
waterinLakeHiawatha
o WatersampleswerecollectedfromLakeHiawatha,PondE,and
fourmonitoringwellsinJanuary2016
o MPRBalsousedhistoricsamplesofwaterinLakeHiawatha
o Concentrationsofphosphorusinsamplesofpond,groundand
lakewaterwereverysimilar
o Totalloadofphosphorusfrompumpedwaterislessthan2.5%of
theannualloadofphosphorustothelake
o TheimpactofpumpedwateronthequalityofwaterinLake
Hiawathaisnegligible
o Alsoanalyzedgroundwaterandlakewaterforcontaminantssuch
asvolatileorganiccarbonsanddieselrangeorganicsanddidnot
detectanycontamination
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Investigations
NutrientComparison: LakeHiawathaandtheGolfCoursePondE
WaterQuality Parameter

Pondon
1/20/16

5YearLake
Average

Lakeon
1/20/16

NOx

NitrateandNitriteasN,mg/L

0.479

0.196

0.259

SRP

SolubleReactivePhosphorus,mg/L

0.004

0.013

0.005

TKN

TotalKjeldahl Nitrogen,mg/L

2.18

0.968

0.991

TP

TotalPhosphorus,mg/L

0.076

0.063

0.028

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Investigations: deep groundwater

Assessingimpactsondeepgroundwater
o Anexistingbutrarelyuseddeepwellonthegolfcoursewas
energizedtopumpdeepgroundwaterfor72hours
beginningon2/16/2016,duringwhichtime1.7million
gallonsofwaterwerepumpedfromthewellintoLake
Hiawatha
o Duringthepumping,dataloggersinthemonitoringwells
wereanalyzedtodetermineiftherewasanydrawdownin
shallowgroundwater
o Therewasnorecordedchangeinthegroundwater
elevationsinthemonitoringwellsindicatingthereisno
directrelationshipbetweenshallowgroundwateranddeep
groundwaterthatisimpactedbythecurrentpumping
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Investigations: deep groundwater

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Investigation: water level recovery

Measuringtheimpactsonpondelevationswithout
pumping
o Ashorttermrecoverytestwasperformedfrom
12/31/2015to1/4/2016
o Pumpswereturnedoffandwaterelevationsinthepond
wereallowedtoincrease
o Pondelevationsincreased1footin92hours(froman
elevationof808.8to809.8)
o Pumpswereturnedonattheendofthetestperiod
o Thetestsuggests,withoutpumping,thewaterelevationon
thegolfcoursepropertywouldequalizewithLakeHiawatha

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Investigation: water level recovery

Existingcondition,pumpson
drawingisnottoscale
elevationsareapproximate
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Investigation: water level recovery

Potentialcondition,pumpsoff
drawingisnottoscale
elevationsareapproximate
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No Pumping Scenarios
Bookendingpumpoffscenarios
o Fourscenariosweremodeled,eachreflectingapotential
conditionrelatedtolakelevel,creekflow,andrainevents
o Withpumpsoff,groundwateratthegolfcoursewillequalizewith
thewaterlevelofLakeHiawatharegardlessofthepresenceof
theberm;asaresult,eachpumpoffscenariosignificantly
impactsthegolfcourse
o Particularattentionwasdirectedtonearbyprivateproperties
andimpactsupstreamalongstormsewers
o Thescenariosaddresstheareatributarytothegolfcourseponds
andpumps

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Scenario 1
Scenario1
o WaterlevelatLake
Hiawatha=812.8
o Creekcondition=
normalflow
o Rainevent=100year
o Reference:Ordinary
highwaterlevel=
812.8

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Scenario 2
Scenario2
o WaterlevelatLake
Hiawatha=814.1
(longtermhighwater
level)
o Creekcondition=
highflow
o Rainevent=10yr
o Reference:Ordinary
highwaterlevel=
812.8
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Scenario 3
Scenario3
o WaterlevelatLake
Hiawatha=815.7
(topofberm)
o Creekcondition=
veryhighflow
o Rainevent=10yr
o Reference:Ordinary
highwaterlevel=
812.8

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Scenario 4
Scenario4
o WaterlevelatLake
Hiawatha=815.7
(topofberm)
o Creekcondition=
veryhighflow
o Rainevent=100yr
o Reference:Ordinary
highwaterlevel=
812.8

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Findings
Ifgolfcourselevelswereallowedtoriseto812.8under
normalconditionswithpumpsturnedoff,basedonthe
estimatedbasementfloorelevations:
o Thereareapproximately9atriskhomesnearthelowspot
at19thAvenueand44thStreet
o Basedonatypicalgroundwatergradient,theremaybean
additional9homesatriskinthewatershedtothewestof
thegolfcourse

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Findings

Potentialcondition,pumpsoff
drawingisnottoscale
elevationsareapproximate
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Option 1: continue pumping

o DependsonpermitapprovalfromtheMinnesota
DepartmentofNaturalResources
o Determinepolicyrelatedtogroundwaterpumping
o Openall18holesofthegolfcoursein2016
o ContinueeffortsinitiatedundertheCooperative
Agreement,whichmightincludechangingtheway
thewaterispumpedfromthegolfcourse

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Option 2: stop pumping

o Golfcoursecantexistonsignificantlyreduced
footprint
o Needtomorefullyunderstandgroundwater
relationshipandimpactsatnearbyprivateproperties

28

Decision points
o
o
o
o
o

Impactongolfcourseanditsfuture
Impactsonnearbyprivateproperties
Longtermenvironmentalimpactorbenefit
Regulatoryfeasibility
Cost

29

Other activities
o Meetwithownersofpotentiallyimpactedproperties
o Determinebasementelevationsofpotentially
impactedproperties

30

Next steps
OriginalgoalsstatedintheCooperativeAgreement
remainvalid, withtwosignificantmodifications
o Developingconceptstorestoreorreconfigurethegolf
courseifpumpingcontinuesortoimagineotherpark
configurationsifpumpingstops
o Improvingtheecologyofthecreekthroughthegolfcourse
property
o ConsideringoptionsforthepipefromEast43rd Street
(northside)thatemptiesintoLakeHiawatha
o Understandingfullythepotentialgroundwaterimpactson
nearbyprivatepropertiesifpumpingstops
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Questions

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