A new way to control floodwaters is making waves at the Lake Elmo Airport.
Officials want to put floating water evaporators on drainage ponds to pump excess water into the air. But one neighbor says the devices will be noisy and polluting, and has taken her complaint to the West Lakeland Township board.
“We don’t want to be the guinea pigs for this,” said Mary Vierling, who lives east of the proposed installations.
The board decided Tuesday to spend $10,000 for a partial payment to study the impact of the evaporating machines. The total cost of the study will be $22,500, said Vierling. “If we have to have fundraisers for the balance, we will do that.”
The evaporators would be installed by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which controls the Lake Elmo Airport. The commission plans to put devices in ponds on airport property to reduce water runoff.
The MAC issued a statement Thursday, saying the evaporators are part of a flood-reduction plan approved by the Valley Branch Watershed District.
The drainage ponds will be lined to prevent runoff from sources outside of the airport. MAC said the noise would be “minimal, and any impact would be limited to within 10 feet.”
Vierling said the machines have been used in sewage treatment plants, but not in stormwater ponds. “You can’t take something as experimental as this and throw it out there,” she said. She added that she also worried about water pollution becoming air pollution.
MAC officials said moisture from the machines wouldn’t threaten nearby homes.
“At most, the evaporators produce a fine mist, within close range of the device on the pond, to simply enhance the natural evaporation process,” said the MAC statement.
The evaporators address a flooding problem that has plagued the area for years. In 2020, Washington County declared a flood emergency as when high waters shut down roads and flooded homes. Runoff from the Lake Elmo Airport ran south across 30thStreet, and west across Manning Avenue.
There was no place to pump the water — because the whole area was saturated.
MAC plans to install the evaporators in 2022.
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March 12, 2021 at 05:11AM
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Neighbor questions Lake Elmo Airport flood-control evaporators - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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