May 16, 2024 - The permit amendment requiring the appellant permit holders to submit a contingency plan for total or partial conversion to surface water sources for water supplies is reasonably necessary for the “safety and welfare of the people of the state.” The permit amendment requiring the appellant permit holders to “prepare, enact, and enforce a residential irrigation ban” is so underinclusive that it is an arbitrary and unlawful condition on appropriations of groundwater. An arbitrary condition cannot be reasonably necessary for the “safety and welfare of the people of the state,” as those words are used in Minn. Stat. § 103G.315, subd. 6 (2022). The permit amendment requiring the appellant permit holders to submit enforceable plans to phase down per capita residential water use to 75 gallons per day and total per capita water use to 90 gallons per day, is reasonably necessary for the “safety and welfare of the people of the state.” The permit amendment requiring the appellant permit holders to submit annual reports to DNR detailing their efforts to develop plans to phase down per capita residential water use to 75 gallons per day and total per capita water use to 90 gallons per day is reasonably necessary for the “safety and welfare of the people of the state.”