Testimony to BWSR re: Coldwater Creek Watershed 4/27/2000

by Susu Jeffrey for Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition

Coldwater Spring


-Coldwater is the last great spring, the last spring of size in Hennepin County where citizens can drink directly from the earth.

-It is both the Birthplace of Minnesota and the genesis location for the Dakota Nation, their sacred spring in their Garden of Eden.

-The (multiple) springs which ooze, pour and tumble out from the limestone hillside to form Coldwater Creek have been flowing at least 10,000 years, possibly even before the most recent (Wisconsin) glacier period. The flow is more than 100,000 gallons a day. (Source: Kelton Barr, hydro-geological consultant to MCWD)

MnDOT’s Record on Road-Building and Springs


-The other major local spring was called Great Medicine Spring. In 1874, Col. John H. Stevens, first white settler in Minneapolis, said Native Americans "came hundreds of miles to get the benefit of its medicinal qualities." (Greg Brick, "Along the Great Wall: Mapping the Springs of the Twin Cities," Minnesota Ground Water Association, Volume 16, Number 1, March 1997.)

-Naturalists at Theodore Wirth Park reported that Great Medicine Spring dried-up with construction of Interstate-394. In court that is called "anecdotal proof" because there is no before and after science--no baseline information, no follow up.

-The Minneapolis Park Board waited 10 years for Great Medicine Spring to return. In February of 1999, they drilled down 150-feet and found a trickle of iron-rich, perched water. (Source: Jeff Lee, Minneapolis Park Board)

(Example: in two small glass jars--from Great Medicine Spring the water is clouded with floating particulate matter and took 11-seconds to fill; from Coldwater, the water is clear and the jar was filled in less than one second.)

Exclusion of this Historic Area During the Planning Stages for the 55 ReRoute


-In 1957 the Hiawatha reroute was first proposed. Why has there never been a hydrology study?

-The Lt. Smith map of 1837, considered the best map of the area, was discounted during the historic review. (See the independent historic
anthropological study by Bruce White, Ph.D.)

-Sixteen hours of court-ordered, Native American testimony was also discounted. "How we take care of the water is how it will take care of us,"
stated Eddie Benton Benais, Ojibwe spiritual elder from Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation, in north central Wisconsin. He told how his grandfather’s people would come to this area "by horse, by foot, by canoe" for "great religious, spiritual ceremonies" and that they "always camped between the falls and the (spring) sacred water place."

Conclusion


-MnDOT has a record of dried up springs and reduced water quality in Minneapolis with construction and dewatering for major highway projects.

--Great Medicine Spring in Theodore Wirth Park adjacent to I-394 has disappeared.

--The water quality in Loring Park has suffered from I-94, likewise Powderhorn Lake has become nasty since I-35W cut through part of its groundwater supply. (Source: Commissioner Dean Zimmerman, Minneapolis Park Board)

-In the Final Environmental Impact Statement, there is no mention—nothing whatsoever—about the area south of 54th Street, the federal land.


Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition


-We ask to have all the data considered.

-We ask for twenty-first century technology. Design the road for the land as it exists, in this case a waterscape at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers.

-We demand accountability and ask that the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District annex its neighboring watershed, the Coldwater, under its authority. Since they are adjacent and both empty into the Mississippi, it is the logical decision.