SB 168

This bill provides that a city, village, town, or county may remediate a

contaminated private well, fill and seal a contaminated well, or rehabilitate, replace,

or abandon a failing private on-site wastewater treatment system, in agreement

with the owner of the well or wastewater treatment system, or may make a

low-interest or interest-free loan to the owner of a contaminated well or failing

wastewater treatment system for these purposes. Under the bill, if a city, village,

town, or county takes any of these actions or provides a loan for these purposes, the

city, village, town, or county may recover the costs of the action or collect the loan

repayment as a special charge or special assessment.

This bill also increases the limit on the amount of a grant awarded under this

state's well compensation grant program. Under current law, an individual owner

or renter of a contaminated private well may apply for a grant from the Department

of Natural Resources to cover a portion of the costs to treat the water, reconstruct the

well, construct a new well, connect to a public water supply, or fill and seal (abandon)

the well. A grant awarded under the program may not exceed 75 percent of a project's

eligible costs and may not cover any part of a project's eligible costs that exceeds

$12,000, which means that a grant may not exceed $9,000. This bill increases the

grant award limit to 75 percent of $16,000, which means that a grant under the bill

may not exceed $12,000.