Suit seeks to limit roadwork's impact on Coldwater Spring

A watershed agency has taken state road builders to court to force testing it says is needed to protect the flow of ground water to historic Camp Coldwater Spring.

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District asked the Hennepin County District Court on Tuesday to limit key construction activities for the new Hwy. 55/Crosstown Hwy. 62 interchange and to prohibit any drainage nearby for as long as four weeks. It wants to do more tests to determine ground-water patterns and to force changes in the interchange if warranted.

The fight is the last vestige of a long battle over the rerouting of Hwy. 55. The Watershed District doesn't oppose the road project but says it has a legal responsibility to ensure that the work doesn't diminish the spring, which is just under the equivalent of three football fields northeast of the interchange.

The suit cites a law signed eight days ago by Gov. Jesse Ventura that prohibits state and local agencies from diminishing the flow of water to the spring.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has said it is committed to ensuring that the project doesn't hamper the spring flow. It reiterated last week that it is monitoring the work closely and will reevaluate the interchange design if it finds such an effect. A spokeswoman said the department doesn't comment on lawsuits.

The construction site isn't within the Watershed District's jurisdiction, but the district retains authority over the spring, and state law gives it the power to conduct tests outside its boundaries.

The district argues that the spring gets much of its water from the direction of the interchange and that a drainage pond there and other drains under Hwy. 62 will divert that water, reducing spring flow by a third.

This month, it injected dye into the ground at two sites near the spring. Dye from one of them showed up quickly at the spring. Now the district wants to see whether dye injected at the interchange area would do so, too.

But according to the lawsuit, the state has said that it would consider such a test invalid, and state officials say there are several flaws in the district's conclusions. They argue that an underground valley through bedrock probably carries most water eastward from the interchange area, bypassing the spring; that if water were coming from southwest of the interchange, it would flow across the existing Hwy. 62, and that the district's consultant miscalculated the rate of underground flow.

The district asserted in its suit that the department notified it this week that it won't stop drainage work in progress in the interchange area for construction and that work on the pond and drains will begin Tuesday.

The suit specifically asks for an injunction against any draining within about 200 yards of the intersection for four weeks or until dye injected there reaches the springs. It also asks that a judge halt the excavation of the pond and the construction of the drains.

In a meeting last week, the department told Watershed District representatives that it could face penalties of several thousand dollars a day from its contractor for changing construction plans to accommodate tests. The district said those costs might be lower than going back to change drains later.

The spring is one of the state's most important early sites and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. It was a base for soldiers who built Fort Snelling in the 1820s and later was the focus of an early white settlement. Indians from several tribes have claimed that it has sacred meaning. It also was an icon for those who fought the Hwy. 55 rerouting.

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