With an influx of large industrial water use projects being proposed in Minnesota, Freshwater is leading work on a new geospatial tool to help municipalities, planners, communities and businesses consider how new projects might impact the water security of local communities and ecosystems. The Water Risk Atlas will be a Minnesota-specific, web-based application modeled after the World Resources Institute Aqueduct project, a widely used global mapping tool that provides insights on factors like water stress, water depletion, flooding and drought.
Funded by $400,000 from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund Emerging Issues Account, this project is led by Freshwater Research and Policy Director Carrie Jennings, teamed with mapping technology experts at SharedGeo. In addition, the work will be informed by the expertise of two advisory boards (technical and end user) representing several Minnesota state agencies, Tribal governments, community and nonprofit groups, engineers, researchers, and other key stakeholders.
Using science to address the speed of business
At least 20 Minnesota cities from the Twin Cities to Rochester have been approached by data centers or other high-volume water users in the last year, raising questions about long-term groundwater sustainability to support rivers, lakes, wetlands and drinking water.
“These projects tend to be confidential and fast-moving without much scientific input during the initial planning stages,” explained Jennings. “Sites are often chosen for reasons other than water security – such as electrical grid, fiber capacity and land prices – with the assumption that water is available. However, groundwater availability is highly variable throughout different regions of the state.”
Fortunately, Minnesota has a wealth of dynamic water data available to aid in decision-making. The challenge is to make the information widely available in a format that people can understand and use – and that is where the Water Risk Atlas comes in.
Importantly, this screening tool is not intended to be a substitute for environmental review or site-specific investigations. Rather, it could be used by businesses and economic development agencies to direct water-intensive industries toward regions that can potentially support the proposed use – and away from water-stressed regions. This would be a valuable first step in avoiding water-use conflicts later on.