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State of Wisconsin
Groundwater Advisory Committee
December 14, 2007
The Honorable, Legislature:
On behalf of the Groundwater Advisory Committee, we are pleased to submit this report to the Senate Committee on Environment & Natural Resources and the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources in fulfillment of its charge under
2003 Wisconsin Act 310. We appreciate the opportunity to serve on this important Committee and recognize the significance of Act 310. This report is the second of two reports called for under Act 310.
The first report submitted at the end of 2006, focused on management of groundwater resources within groundwater management areas and other areas of the state that have already experienced broad impacts due to groudwater drawdown. This report complements the 2006 report and assesses the effectiveness of the law and adequacy of specific provisions in the law.
Overall, the Committee believes Act 310 is working as originally intended as a first step in integrated water management. The law has provided an added level of environmental protection for trout streams, outstanding resource waters, exceptional resource waters and springs by ensuring that potential impacts to these resources be evaluated and reduced as part of the high capacity well approved process.
The Committee reached unanimous agreement on several important issues in 2007 and also worked collaboratively with the DNR to develop Chapter
NR 820, Wis. Adm. Code, which was generally endorsed by the Committee. There were also a number of complex issues that simply were not amenable to a unanimous resolution. In those cases, the report contains a number of options prepared by and voted on by Committee members for consideration by the legislature. Resolution of these issues will require additional discussion. We believe the work completed by the Groundwater Advisory Committee over the past two years as reflected in the two reports will serve as a solid foundation for those discussions.
As stated above, Act 310 is a valuable component in ensuring sound management of the State's groundwater resources. However, further work remains to be done to build upon the successes of Act 310. Information collected as the DNR continues its implementation of Act 310 and NR 820 along with ongoing research and monitoring will be essential as enhancements to the regulatory framework are contemplated.
We would be pleased to discuss the enclosed report at a joint meeting of the standing committees. Such a meeting might be valuable for the Committees to enhance their understanding of the recommendations made by the Groundwater Advisory Committee.
Sincerely,
ron kuehn
Co-Chair, Groundwater Advisory Committee
Sincerely,
M. carol mccartney
Co-Chair, Groundwater Advisory Committee
Referred to committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
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State of Wisconsin
Joint Legislative Council
December 17, 2007
The Honorable, Senate:
I am pleased to transmit to you the following reports to the 2007 Legislature on legislation introduced by the Joint Legislative Council:
RL 2007-16 Special Committee on Charter Schools
RL 2007-20 Special Committee on Great Lakes Water
Resources Compact
I would appreciate your including this letter in the Journal for the information of the membership. Additional copies of these reports are available at the Legislative Council Staff offices, One East Main, Suite 401, or from our web page at
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/.
Sincerely,
Terry C. Anderson
Director
