Wis. Stat. § 281.346 — WI Code / Chapter 281 / Section 281.346
Water conservation, reporting, and supply regulation; after the compact takes effect.
Status: in_force

(1) Definitions. In this section:

(d) “Community within a straddling county” means any city, village, or town that is not a straddling community and that is located outside the Great Lakes basin but wholly within a county that lies partly within the Great Lakes basin.

(dm) “Compact” means the Great Lakes — St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact under s. 281.343 .

(dr) “Compact’s effective date” means the effective date of the compact under s. 281.343 (9) (d) .

(e) “Consumptive use” means a use of water that results in the loss of or failure to return some or all of the water to the basin from which the water is withdrawn due to evaporation, incorporation into products, or other processes.

(g) “Cumulative impacts” means the impacts on the Great Lakes basin ecosystem that result from incremental effects of all aspects of a withdrawal, diversion, or consumptive use in addition to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future withdrawals, diversions, and consumptive uses regardless of who undertakes the other withdrawals, diversions, and consumptive uses, including individually minor but collectively significant withdrawals, diversions, and consumptive uses taking place over a period of time.

(h) “Diversion” means a transfer of water from the Great Lakes basin into a watershed outside the Great Lakes basin, or from the watershed of one of the Great Lakes into that of another, by any means of transfer, including a pipeline, canal, tunnel, aqueduct, channel, modification of the direction of a water course, tanker ship, tanker truck, or rail tanker except that “diversion” does not include any of the following:

1. The transfer of a product produced in the Great Lakes basin or in the watershed of one of the Great Lakes, using waters of the Great Lakes basin, out of the Great Lakes basin or out of that watershed.

2. The transmission of water within a line that extends outside the Great Lakes basin as it conveys water from one point to another within the Great Lakes basin if no water is used outside the Great Lakes basin.

3. The transfer of bottled water from the Great Lakes basin in containers of 5.7 gallons or less.

(hm) “Divert” means to transfer water from the Great Lakes basin into a watershed outside the Great Lakes basin, or from the watershed of one of the Great Lakes into that of another, by any means of transfer, including a pipeline, canal, tunnel, aqueduct, channel, modification of the direction of a water course, tanker ship, tanker truck, or rail tanker except that “divert” does not include any of the following:

1. To transfer a product produced in the Great Lakes basin or in the watershed of one of the Great Lakes, using waters of the Great Lakes basin, out of the Great Lakes basin or out of that watershed.

2. To transmit water within a line that extends outside the Great Lakes basin as it conveys water from one point to another within the Great Lakes basin if no water is used outside the Great Lakes basin.

3. To transfer bottled water from the Great Lakes basin in containers of 5.7 gallons or less.

(i) “Environmentally sound and economically feasible water conservation measures” means those measures, methods, or technologies for efficient water use and for reducing water loss and waste or for reducing the amount of a withdrawal, consumptive use, or diversion that are, taking into account environmental impact, the age and nature of equipment and facilities involved, the processes employed, the energy impacts, and other appropriate factors, all of the following:

1. Environmentally sound.

2. Reflective of best practices applicable to the water use sector.

3. Technically feasible and available.

4. Economically feasible and cost-effective based on an analysis that considers direct and avoided economic and environmental costs.

(j) “Facility” means an operating plant or establishment providing electricity to the public or carrying on any manufacturing activity, trade, or business on one site, including similar plants or establishments under common ownership or control located on contiguous properties.

(je) “Great Lakes basin” means the watershed of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River upstream from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, within the jurisdiction of the parties.

(ji) “Great Lakes basin ecosystem” means the interacting components of air, land, water, and living organisms, including humans, within the Great Lakes basin.

(jj) “Great Lakes council” means the Great Lakes — St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council, created under s. 281.343 (2) (a) .

(jm) “Intrabasin transfer” means the transfer of water from the watershed of one of the Great Lakes into the watershed of another of the Great Lakes.

(n) “Party” means a state that is a party to the compact.

(nm) Notwithstanding s. 281.01 (9) , “person” means an individual or other entity, including a government or a nongovernmental organization, including any scientific, professional, business, nonprofit, or public interest organization or association that is neither affiliated with nor under the direction of a government.

(o) “Product” means something produced by human or mechanical effort or through agricultural processes and used in manufacturing, commercial, or other processes or intended for intermediate or ultimate consumers, subject to all of the following:

1. Water used as part of the packaging of a product is part of the product.

2. Other than water used as part of the packaging of a product, water that is used primarily to transport materials in or out of the Great Lakes basin is not a product or part of a product.

3. Except as provided in subd. 1. , water that is transferred as part of a public or private supply is not a product or part of a product.

4. Water in its natural state, such as in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, aquifers, or water basins, is not a product.

(pm) “Public water supply” means water distributed to the public through a physically connected system of treatment, storage, and distribution facilities that serve a group of largely residential customers and that may also serve industrial, commercial, and other institutional customers.

(ps) “Reasonable water supply alternative” means a water supply alternative that is similar in cost to, and as environmentally sustainable and protective of public health as, the proposed new or increased diversion and that does not have greater adverse environmental impacts than the proposed new or increased diversion.

(q) “Regional body” means the body consisting of the governors of the parties and the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, Canada, or their designees as established by the Great Lakes — St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement.

(qd) “Regional declaration of finding” means a declaration of finding issued by the regional body under s. 281.343 (4h) (e) .

(qm) “Regional review” means review by the regional body as described in s. 281.343 (4h) .

(r) “Source watershed” means the watershed from which a withdrawal originates. If water is withdrawn directly from a Great Lake or from the St. Lawrence River, then the source watershed is the watershed of that Great Lake or the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, respectively. If water is withdrawn from the watershed of a stream that is a direct tributary to a Great Lake or a direct tributary to the St. Lawrence River, then the source watershed is the watershed of that Great Lake or the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, respectively.

(t) “Straddling community” means any city, village, or town that, based on its boundary existing as of the compact’s effective date, is partly within the Great Lakes basin or partly within the watersheds of 2 of the Great Lakes and that is wholly within any county that lies partly or completely within the Great Lakes basin.

(tm) “Straddling county” means a county that lies partly within the Great Lakes basin.

(u) “Technical review” means a thorough analysis and evaluation conducted to determine whether a proposal that is subject to regional review under this section meets the criteria for approval under sub. (4) , (5) , or (6) .

(w) “Water dependent natural resources” means the interacting components of land, water, and living organisms affected by the waters of the Great Lakes basin.

(wm) “Water loss” means the amount of water that is withheld from or not returned to the basin from which it is withdrawn as a result of a diversion or consumptive use or both.

(wp) “Water supply system,” when not preceded by “public,” means one of the following:

1. Except as provided in subd. 2. , the equipment handling water from the point of intake of the water to the first point at which the water is used.

2. For a system for providing a public water supply, the equipment from the point of intake of the water to the first point at which the water is distributed.

(wr) “Water utility” means a public utility, as defined in s. 196.01 (5) , that furnishes water.

(x) “Waters of the Great Lakes basin” means the Great Lakes and all streams, rivers, lakes, connecting channels, and other bodies of water, including tributary groundwater, within the Great Lakes basin.

(y) “Withdraw” means to take water from surface water or groundwater.

(z) “Withdrawal” means the taking of water from surface water or groundwater, including the taking of surface water or groundwater for the purpose of bottling the water.

(zm) “Without adequate supplies of potable water” means lacking a water supply that is economically and environmentally sustainable in the long term to meet reasonable demands for a water supply in the quantity and quality that complies with applicable drinking water standards, is protective of public health, is available at a reasonable cost, and does not have adverse environmental impacts greater than those likely to result from the proposed new or increased diversion.

(2) Determinations concerning applicability of requirements.

(a) Use of surface water divide. For the purposes of this section, the surface water divide is used to determine whether a withdrawal or transfer of surface water or groundwater is from the Great Lakes basin.

(b) Diversions and withdrawals from more than one source. For the purposes of this section, the diversion or withdrawal of water from more than one source within the Great Lakes basin to supply a single facility or public water supply system is considered one diversion or withdrawal.

(bm) Subsequent withdrawals for aquacultural purposes. If a fish farm withdraws water and places it in an aquacultural pond that is registered with the department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection, any subsequent use of that water from that pond is not a withdrawal for the purposes of this section, if the subsequent use is not, and does not result in, a diversion or an intrabasin transfer.

(c) Water loss. The department shall promulgate rules for determining the amount of water loss from consumptive uses.

(d) County boundaries. For the purposes of sub. (1) (d) , (t) , and (tm) , a county’s boundaries as of December 13, 2005, shall be used to determine whether a county lies partly within the Great Lakes basin.

(e) Baseline.

1g. The baseline for a withdrawal that before December 8, 2008, averaged 100,000 gallons per day or more in any 30-day period but to which subd. 1m. does not apply is the amount determined under sub. (4e) .

1m. If a person making a withdrawal that averages 100,000 gallons per day or more in any 30-day period registered the withdrawal under s. 281.344 (3) (a) 1. and reported as required under s. 281.344 (3) (e) and the department did not automatically issue a notice of coverage under s. 281.344 (4s) (c) or an individual permit under s. 281.344 (5) (c) for the withdrawal, the baseline for the withdrawal is the amount determined under s. 281.344 (5m) for the withdrawal or, if the department determines a different amount under sub. (4e) , the amount determined under sub. (4e) .