Control of nonpoint source water pollution in certain areas with carbonate bedrock and granting rule-making authority

To identify the areas for which additional regulation of land spreading is potentially needed, the bill requires DNR to identify areas in this state that exhibit carbonate bedrock characteristics that may cause them to be susceptible to groundwater contamination from land spreading, including areas that have carbonate bedrock less than 50 feet from the surface of the land. The bill requires DNR to promulgate rules for ranking the land in potentially susceptible areas into categories according to relative vulnerability to groundwater contamination from land spreading, based on factors that include bedrock features and the depth and other characteristics of top soil, and to identify the categories for which additional regulation is needed.

The bill requires the county land conservation committee in a covered county to categorize the land in potentially susceptible areas (as identified by DNR) in the county according to the rules for ranking those lands. The bill provides a process for a land owner or other person, including DNR and DATCP, to obtain a review of a land conservation committee's categorization of land. The bill also requires DATCP to produce maps that show land that is categorized under this process, by category, and to post those maps on its Internet site.

The bill authorizes DNR to enforce the rules concerning land spreading on susceptible lands by issuing citations, which are similar to traffic tickets. A district attorney may also proceed against a person who violates the rules.

The rules promulgated by DNR and DATCP under current law to limit nonpoint source water pollution, as described above, do not apply to an agricultural facility or practice that was in existence before October 14, 1997, unless financial assistance is available to pay a portion of the cost of complying with the rules.

Under this bill, the current rules to limit nonpoint source water pollution apply to an agricultural facility or practice, in a covered county, that was in existence before October 14, 1997, without regard to whether financial assistance is available, if the facility or practice is on land categorized in a category with heightened vulnerability to groundwater contamination and is in an area with a level of groundwater contamination that may affect public health, as determined under rules promulgated by DNR.