Groundwater management, approval of high capacity wells, and granting rule-making authority. (FE)

Current law provides for a Groundwater Coordinating Council (GCC), consisting of the secretaries of agriculture, trade and consumer protection, natural resources, commerce, and transportation, and the president of the University of Wisconsin System, or their designees; the state geologist; and a person to represent the governor. This bill requires the GCC to appoint a subcommittee on groundwater area review (council subcommittee), consisting of individuals with technical expertise in the area of groundwater science and management.

This bill requires the council subcommittee to examine areas that may qualify for designation as groundwater management areas and to forward its conclusions to the GCC. The council subcommittee must first consider three specific areas for possible designation as groundwater management areas: one area in and adjacent to Brown County; one area in and adjacent to Waukesha County; and the area known as the central sands region. A person may petition the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for an area to be designated as a groundwater management area, which the council subcommittee must then consider. If the council subcommittee forwards a conclusion that an area qualifies as a groundwater management area and the GCC agrees with that conclusion, the GCC may recommend that DNR designate the area as a groundwater management area. If DNR receives such a recommendation from the GCC, DNR may, by rule, designate the area as a groundwater management area.

After DNR promulgates a rule designating an area as a groundwater management area, it must establish a date by which it is reasonable to expect that groundwater conditions in the area will improve to the point that the area will no longer qualify as a groundwater management area (a target date), and conditions to balance groundwater consumption and groundwater replenishment so that there are no significant adverse environmental impacts to surface water or groundwater (sustainable hydrologic conditions).

Planning This bill requires DNR to develop and adopt a groundwater management plan for the groundwater management area. The groundwater management plan must be designed to protect surface water and groundwater and to ensure that by the target date the area no longer qualifies as a groundwater management area. The groundwater management plan must contain measurable goals, requirements for reporting to DNR, water conservation measures, and any other provision that DNR determines is necessary to meet the sustainable hydrologic conditions.

In preparing the groundwater management plan, DNR must appoint and consult with a technical advisory committee and a citizens advisory committee. The members of the technical advisory committee must have technical expertise in the area of groundwater science and management, and the members of the citizens advisory committee must represent a variety of interested parties in the groundwater management area, including municipal, agricultural, industrial, and commercial water users and conservation groups.

Rescinding designation After the target date established by DNR for a groundwater management area, the bill requires the council subcommittee to consider whether the area still qualifies as a groundwater management area. If the council subcommittee concludes that the area no longer qualifies as a groundwater management area, it must forward that conclusion to the GCC. If the GCC agrees that the area no longer qualifies as a groundwater management area, the GCC may recommend that DNR rescind the designation. If the GCC makes that recommendation, DNR may rescind the designation by repealing the rule designating the area as a groundwater management area.

High capacity wells Environmental review of proposed high capacity wells Under current law, a person may not construct a high capacity well without an approval from DNR. A high capacity well is a well that, together with all other wells on the same property, has the capacity to withdraw more than 100,000 gallons of water per day.

This bill requires an applicant for approval of a high capacity well to publish a notice of the application in a newspaper, identifying the owner and the location of the well.

Current law requires DNR to conduct an environmental review of applications for approval of a high capacity well that is located in an area within 1,200 feet of a trout stream or exceptional resource waters (a groundwater protection area); a high capacity well with a high water loss, in which less than 5 percent of the water withdrawn is returned after use to the basin from which it is withdrawn; and a high capacity well that may have a significant adverse impact on a qualifying spring.

This bill eliminates the environmental review requirement relating to springs, and instead requires DNR to conduct an environmental review of an application for approval of a high capacity well that may have a significant adverse impact on waters of the state.

Under current law, if DNR determines, while conducting an environmental review of a proposed well that meets one of the criteria listed above, that an environmental impact report must be conducted for the proposed well, DNR must generally include conditions in the well approval to ensure that it does not cause significant adverse environmental impact. If it is not possible to ensure that, DNR must deny the application. If a proposed well will be used to provide a public water supply and DNR determines that there is no reasonable alternative location for the well, DNR must include in the approval conditions to ensure that the environmental impact of the well is balanced by the public benefit of the well. Examples of such conditions include conditions relating to the location, depth, pumping capacity, rate of flow, and ultimate use of the well.

This bill includes monitoring as one of the examples of potential conditions that may be included in such an approval. This bill also provides that, in any high capacity well approval, DNR may require the well owner to implement a monitoring program to evaluate the impacts of the well, and may modify the approval based on the results of that monitoring program.

Current law provides that a high capacity well approval, or application for approval, cannot be challenged based on DNR's lack of consideration of the cumulative impacts of the proposed well and existing wells. This bill requires DNR, when considering whether a high capacity well may have a significant adverse environmental impact on waters of the state, to consider the cumulative impacts of that high capacity well together with existing withdrawals.

Under current law, a high capacity well approval generally remains in effect indefinitely, unless modified or rescinded by DNR. This bill provides that an approval issued after the effective date of the bill may not remain in effect for more than ten years. An approval issued prior to the effective date of the bill remains in effect for a longer period, depending on how long before the effective date of the bill it was issued.

High capacity wells in groundwater management areas Under this bill, after DNR develops a groundwater management plan for a groundwater management area, DNR may not approve a high capacity well in the groundwater management area unless the high capacity well is consistent with the groundwater management plan.

This bill also requires DNR, after it develops a groundwater management plan, to review approvals for high capacity wells in the groundwater management area that were issued before the plan went into effect. The bill authorizes DNR to modify such approvals to ensure that they are consistent with the groundwater management plan.

Fees for certain withdrawals Current law imposes an annual fee of $125 on a person whose water supply system has the capacity to withdraw an average of 100,000 gallons per day in any 30-day period from the waters of the state. This bill increases that annual fee to $250.

DNR has also established, by rule, water use fees for users who withdraw more than 50,000,000 gallons per year from the Great Lakes basin. This bill directs DNR to establish such fees for users who withdraw more than 50,000,000 gallons per year from the waters of the state.

Other provisions This bill also requires DNR to include water conservation requirements in the approvals, required under current law, for certain surface water withdrawals, if the withdrawal is in a groundwater management area, and requires those conservation requirements to be consistent with the groundwater management plan for the groundwater management area.