On Wednesday, July 5, Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton told leadership of the Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC) that the dewatering activities currently proposed at the airport to construct roadway tunnels are unacceptable as they pose an unacceptable risk to our lakes and ground water.
Sayles Belton called the meeting with representatives from MAC, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District to discuss her concerns about the potential negative impact that the diversion of 2 to 5 billion gallons of water to the Minnesota River during tunnel construction could have on South Minneapolis. "The short term and long term impact of the dewatering
activities are not fully understood," said Sayles Belton. "But we cannot accept any potential risk to our wetlands or Lakes Hiawatha, Diamond, Taft and Nokomis. They are local environmental treasures and part of our nationally and internationally recognized Chain of Lakes. They are also central to our city and regional identity. "We cannot afford to take a chance - not a 10 percent, 5 percent or any chance - that the work on these tunnels will threaten our lakes, environment or property values in South Minneapolis."
During the meeting, MAC officials and their engineering consultants agreed to pursue the viability of other constructions methods, including a system of pilings that builds a box around the construction site to hold back ground water with virtually no dewatering needed.
"We are expecting additional information on the geology of the area and feasibility of this method by tomorrow," said Sayles Belton.

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