Minnesota government to investigate ethanol water usage after Granite Falls plant begins drawing water from Minnesota River

In Minnesota, the state Environmental Quality Board will examine water usage by ethanol plants after a plant in Granite falls, which had been allocated sufficient groundwater for its proposed needs, began pumping water from the Minnesota River. With 16 new ethanol plants in the proposal or construction stage, the state is facing a doubling of water demand from ethanol producers. The industry is consuming 2 billion gallons of Minnesota groundwater per year.

The Board plans to look at whether ethanol producers have understated their needs, or ground water reserves are less than projected. A report from the National Research Council suggests that ethanol production could affect water levels in the Ogalalla aquifer, which runs from west Texas to South Dakota and Wyoming.

A report in Reuters quoted Jerald Schnoor, a University of Iowa professor of environmental engineering, who chaired the committee that produced the report. Schnoor said that extensive parts of the aquifer are showing drops in the water table of more than 100 feet. US ethanol production is centered, however, on the much deeper Prairie Du Chien-Jordan and other aquifers, which supply Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota were not under threat, according to the report.

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