Burnsville's Endangered Water Quality
Welcome to the MRQ! This was what was to become the Northwest corner of Burnsville according to our 2040 Comprehensive Plan. We call this area in the aerial photo below, the Minnesota River Quadrant (MRQ) District.
As recently as 10 years ago when I was in my first term on the Economic Development Commission, the future for this area was bright. The center of this plan revolved around the Kraemer Quarry, a limestone quarry that has been operating for over 50 years. At the time, it was expected to cease operations. The quarry is as deep as 70 feet in parts and without the intervention of these two inconspicuous water-pumps this quarry would be a man-made lake.
As recently as 10 years ago when I was in my first term on the Economic Development Commission, the future for this area was bright. The center of this plan revolved around the Kraemer Quarry, a limestone quarry that has been operating for over 50 years. At the time, it was expected to cease operations. The quarry is as deep as 70 feet in parts and without the intervention of these two inconspicuous water-pumps this quarry would be a man-made lake.
Although the drinking water is currently safe, the unlined waste areas are a future threat to the drinking water supply of Burnsville and Savage, and to the Minnesota River due to potential changes in the groundwater movement when Kraemer Quarry stops pumping.
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According to our plan, the area around the lake would
become high-end office/real estate providing a beautiful entrance into Burnsville from the north. Even the Burnsville Sanitary Landfill (BSLI), was about to reach capacity and stop taking waste (according to the original MRQ plan), allowing their site to eventually transition into a championship caliber 18-hole golf course. |
Unfortunately, those plans changed when Kraemer and Sons in 2020, extended their operations until 2040 and our current City Council approved Waste Management to double their current capacity of accepting waste at BSLI and it will continue operations until 2062. Pushing back the MRQ dream to our grandkids, maybe we’ll see it return on the 2070
Comprehensive Plan (sans the golf course).
What isn’t in dispute is the fact that we have 6 million cubic yards of waste to clean up sometime
between today and 2040; when Kraemer and Sons will discontinue their operations at the quarry and
will stop pumping water out of this site. The water tables in the area will rise to their normal levels, the
quarry itself will become a large man-made lake, and as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)
models predict the waste in the unlined Freeway Landfill and unlined Freeway Dump will contaminate
our drinking water! The MPCA estimates it could take up to 10-years to remediate these sites (2040 is
just over 15-years away) - The question before us now is what are we doing today to prepare Burnsville
for this inevitable future?
Comprehensive Plan (sans the golf course).
What isn’t in dispute is the fact that we have 6 million cubic yards of waste to clean up sometime
between today and 2040; when Kraemer and Sons will discontinue their operations at the quarry and
will stop pumping water out of this site. The water tables in the area will rise to their normal levels, the
quarry itself will become a large man-made lake, and as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)
models predict the waste in the unlined Freeway Landfill and unlined Freeway Dump will contaminate
our drinking water! The MPCA estimates it could take up to 10-years to remediate these sites (2040 is
just over 15-years away) - The question before us now is what are we doing today to prepare Burnsville
for this inevitable future?