Hearings Set on Proposed DNR Rules to Implement Great Lakes Compact

Proposed rules that would implement the Great Lakes Compact and would affect municipal water suppliers, industry, irrigators and others who use large amounts of surface water or groundwater, are the topic of public hearings statewide later this month. The hearings will cover three of the seven water use rules the Department of Natural Resources will ultimately develop to carry out the Great Lakes Compact, formal agreements between the Great Lake states and two Canadian provinces, and the Wisconsin legislation, according to Shaili Pfeiffer, the Department of Natural Resources water specialist involved in conducting outreach on the rules.

While the compact applies only to the Great Lakes Basin, some aspects of the state implementing legislation apply statewide. As a result some elements of the rules apply statewide and some elements apply only in the Great Lakes Basin. The compact commits the states and provinces to manage water in the Great Lakes watershed collectively, including managing in basin water uses, banning water from being “diverted,” or piped out of the basin with a few limited and strictly regulated exceptions, and instituting a water conservation program within the basin.

One rule proposed for the hearings, Natural Resources Chapter NR 856 of the Wis. Admin. Code, defines who must register and annually report their water use to allow the state to understand how much water is being withdrawn, where, and how it’s being used. The rule applies statewide, would impact people who have the capacity to withdraw an average of 100,000 gallons per day or more in any 30-day period, and people who divert any amount of water from the Great Lakes Basin, Pfeiffer says.

A second proposed rule, Natural Resources Chapter NR 850, establishes fees to be paid by people who withdraw more than 50 million gallons per year from the Great Lakes Basin. This fee is in addition to the $125 annual fee that the Wisconsin law set for all registered water withdrawers, statewide.

The third rule, Natural Resources Chapter NR 852 Water Conservation and Water Use Efficiency, establishes the water conservation requirements that will be mandatory in the Great Lakes basin for water users seeking new or increased withdrawals or diversions, and mandatory elsewhere in the state for those with water losses that exceed 2 million or more gallons per day in any 30-day period.

The hearings all begin at 6 p.m. on the following dates at locations listed:

June 28, Milwaukee, Ramada Plaza Terrace 1 & 2, 6331 South 13th St.
June 29, Green Bay, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, Instructional Services Building, Room 1034, 2420 Nicolet Dr.
June 29, Ashland, Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College Ashland Room 306, Conference Center, 2100 Beaser Ave.
June 30, Madison, Pyle Center, Room 121, 702 Langdon St.
June 30, Wausau, Northcentral Technical College’s David Obey Center for Health Sciences Auditorium, 1000 Campus Dr.

The public comment period on these rules is open until July 7, 2010.

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