SB 469

Current law requires the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the

Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to promulgate

rules to limit nonpoint source water pollution, that is, water pollution from diffuse

sources, such as construction sites and feedlots.

This bill requires DNR, in consultation with DATCP, to promulgate rules to

limit pollution of groundwater caused by the spreading of waste on land, including

animal waste, septage, sewage sludge, and industrial waste (land spreading). Under

the bill, the rules apply to certain areas with carbonate bedrock that are susceptible

to groundwater contamination caused by land spreading and that are not sufficiently

protected by the current rules concerning nonpoint source water pollution. The bill

also requires DATCP to make its existing rules concerning nutrient management

consistent with the new DNR rules concerning land spreading on susceptible lands.

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 county in which

a potentially susceptible area is located 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 landowner or other person,

including DNR or 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 rules to limit nonpoint source water pollution apply to an

agricultural facility or practice, in a county in which a potentially susceptible area

is located, that was in existence before October 14, 1997, without regard to whether