AB 800

Center for Watershed Science and Education

This bill provides funding to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin

System to support the operations of the Center for Watershed Science and Education,

which is a partnership between the UW-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources

and the Division of Extension of the UW-Madison. The operations supported must

include expanding outreach to private well owners, developing and maintaining a

database on private well water quality, and updating the center's online mapping

tools. The bill's requirements do not apply after June 30, 2024.

Hydrogeologist position

This bill requires the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

to create a three-year project position for one full-time hydrogeologist for the

geological and natural history survey, which is part of the Division of Extension of

the UW-Madison. The position must focus on developing groundwater resource

information primarily at county or local scales and assisting state and local

governments, industries, and the public in interpreting and using the information.

Phosphorus research

This bill requires the Board of Regents to allocate $200,000 during the 2019-21

fiscal biennium to the Division of Extension of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

for its phase I policy research proposal under its proposed market-based North

American phosphorus recovery and reuse policy program. The amount allocated

must be used for research and not for administrative or overhead expenses. The

board may not make an allocation unless the Division of Extension shows that it has

secured matching funds or contributions of in-kind services from federal, private, or

other nonstate revenue sources that are equal in value to 25 percent of the amount

allocated.

Grants for well testing and public education

This bill requires the Department of Natural Resources to create and

administer a program to provide grants to counties to either 1) test and map privately

owned wells to assess groundwater quality and to determine the extent and type of

any contamination and study and map geologic characteristics and well construction

practices in the county to determine any correlation between water quality, geology,

and well construction; or 2) if a county has completed this type of study, to notify the

public of the results of the study and to notify private well owners whose wells may

be contaminated based on the results of the completed study. Under the bill, DNR

may not provide more than $10,000 to any single county for testing and study under

the first type of grant, or more than $2,500 per county for notifications under the

second type of grant. Counties may apply for a grant individually or as a group. The

bill requires a county that receives a grant under this program to provide an equal

amount of matching funds. The county must also share the results of its testing with

the Center for Watershed Science and Education, but may not include any personally