Water Reclamation in Rosemount and Analysis of Minnesota Plumbing Code

Report and presentation completed by students enrolled in LAW 7012: Environmental Sustainability: Land Use and Water Policy, taught by Jean Coleman in spring 2015.This project was completed as part of a year-long partnership between the City of Rosemount and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). Minnesota may be a water-rich state, but protecting one of the state’s most valuable resources is a critical part of making local communities sustainable and resilient in the face of growing populations and a changing global climate. The idea of water reuse is especially salient for Rosemount because the city lies along a large pipeline that transports treated wastewater from the entire southeast metro area from a nearby municipal treatment plant to the Mississippi River, where it is discharged. The goal of this project was to investigate the feasibility of reusing storm water or treated effluent for irrigation, industrial applications, or other uses in the City of Rosemount. In collaboration with city project lead Andy Brotzler, Public Works Director for the City of Rosemount, a team of students in LAW 7012: Environmental Sustainability: Land Use and Water Policy helped the City navigate the legal aspects of a potential large-scale water reuse system in Rosemount, provided projections on the direction of State plumbing code action, and made recommendations for the City with respect to any plumbing code modification that may be required for a local water reuse project. A final report and presentation from the project are available.This project was supported by the Resilient Communities Project (RCP), a program at the University of Minnesota that convenes the wide-ranging expertise of U of M faculty and students to address strategic local projects that advance community resilience and sustainability. RCP is a program of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA). More information at http://www.rcp.umn.ed