Water is Life: Protecting A Critical Resource for Future Generations

White Bear Lake, the second-largest lake in the Twin Cities, has lost more than a fourth of its volume in the last decade, and much of the dramatic decline has been blamed on increased groundwater pumping by cities around the lake.1 In response, Ali Elhassan, the Metropolitan Council's new top water supply planner, now is urging some Twin City suburbs that pump their water from wells, including some of those communities around White Bear Lake, to consider tapping the Mississippi River, as the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul do.2 That's one part of a growing debate over the sustainability of groundwater pumping in Minnesota.