SB 709

This bill creates an Office of Water Policy that is attached to the University of

Wisconsin System and housed within the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History

Survey of the Division of Extension of UW-Madison. The purpose of the office is to

coordinate efforts to manage, conserve, protect, and enhance the productivity of the

state's water resources for domestic, municipal, commercial, agricultural, industrial,

recreational, and other private and public uses. The office must engage in specified

analytical and evaluative activities, act as a liaison to the Blue Accounting initiative

of the commission created by the Great Lakes basin compact, and submit a biennial

report to the governor and the legislature on its activities. The office is authorized

to provide technical assistance to local governments. The bill requires state

agencies, upon the request of the office, to cooperate and assist the office in carrying

out its duties and exercising its powers.

The bill requires the governor to appoint as director of the office an individual

with experience in managing water resources for a wide range of uses with a priority

on experience in both agricultural and industrial uses. The joint committee on

legislative organization must concur with the appointment. The bill creates the

following duties for the director:

Public dashboard.

No later than December 31, 2021, the director must create

a publicly accessible user-friendly dashboard for municipal water quality reports,

private well data, and surface water quality information. The dashboard must be

compiled from information from the Public Service Commission, the Department of

Health Services, the Department of Natural Resources, campuses of the University

of Wisconsin System, the Division of Extension of the University of

Wisconsin-Madison, and other other credible organizations.

Sharing information.

The director must facilitate and make

recommendations for sharing information between state agencies, campuses of the

University of Wisconsin System, and other stakeholders.

Job opportunities.

The director must work with the Department of Workforce

Development to analyze national and state demand for job opportunities in the area

of water quality and proactively solicit private sector employers to gather data on

those opportunities. No later than December 31, 2021, the director must submit a

report on the data to the Board of Regents of the UW System. The report must

include an analysis of undergraduate and graduate water programs at colleges and

universities around the nation and must focus on the strength and nationwide

reputation of those programs. The Board of Regents must use the information

contained in the report to avoid program repetition in designing new programs that

address the demand for water quality programs.