Comments may be submitted to the department contact person listed above or to DNRAdministrativeRulesComments@wisconsin.gov until the deadline given in the upcoming notice of public hearing. The notice of public hearing and deadline for submitting comments will be published in the Wisconsin Administrative Register and on the department’s website, at https://dnr.wi.gov/calendar/hearings/. Comments may also be submitted through the Wisconsin Administrative Rules Website at https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/chr/active. RULE TEXT
Section 1 NR 854 is created to read:
WATER SUPPLY SERVICE AREA PLANS
NR 854.01 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to establish procedures and requirements for the preparation of water supply service area plans in compliance with the requirements under s. 281.348, Stats. and to establish additional procedures and requirements to ensure that the requirements of ss. 281.343 and 281.346, Stats., are met when department approval of a water supply service area plan is required. NR 854.02 Applicability. (1) This chapter applies to any person who owns or operates a public water supply system that is required to prepare a water supply service area plan under s. NR 854.04. NR 854.03 Definitions. In this chapter:
(1) “Areawide water quality planning agency” means an agency designated by the governor to prepare an areawide water quality management plan under ch. NR 121. (2) “Consecutive water system” has the meaning specified under s. NR 809.04 (11). (3) “Cost-effectiveness analysis” has the meaning specified under s. 281.348 (1) (b), Stats. (4) “Department” means the department of natural resources.
(5) “Diversion” has the meaning specified under s. 281.346 (1) (h), Stats. (6) “Great Lakes basin” has the meaning specified under s. 281.348 (1) (c), Stats. (7) “Great Lakes basin boundary” means the watershed boundary of the Great Lakes basin derived from the Subbasin (8-digit) 4th level hydrologic units from the digital Watershed Boundary Dataset for the State of Wisconsin, consisting of geo-referenced digital data and associated attributes created in accordance with the "FGDC Proposal, Version 1.0 - Federal Standards For Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries 3/01/02.”
(8) “Great Lakes council” has the meaning specified under s. 281.348 (1) (cm), Stats. (9) “New or increased withdrawal” means a proposal for a new withdrawal or a proposal to increase the amount of a withdrawal over the permitted withdrawal amount that requires department approval under s. 281.346 (4g), (4s), or (5), Stats., for a water use general permit or individual permit. (11) “Peak daily withdrawal” means a public water supply system’s highest daily water withdrawal in a year.
(12) “Person” has the meaning specified under s. 281.346 (1) (nm), Stats. (13) “Planning period” means the period covered by the water supply service area plan.
(14) “Population” means the population of a specified area as shown by the last federal census or by any subsequent population estimate under s. 16.96, Stats. (15) “Projected growth area” means the area in which the public water supply system anticipates providing water to the public during the period covered by the water supply service area plan.
(16) “Projected water demand” means the total water demand forecasted in the public water supply system’s existing service area, the water supply system’s projected growth area over the planning period, and any water sold to consecutive water systems.
(17) “Public water supply” has the meaning specified under s. 281.348 (1) (d), Stats. (18) “Public water supply system” means water treated for human consumption distributed to the public through a physically connected system of treatment, storage, and distribution facilities that is all of the following:
(a) Distributed to the public serving a group of largely residential customers and that may also serve commercial, industrial, or public authority customers, and consecutive water systems.
(b) Owned by a city, village, county, town, town sanitary district, utility district, public inland lake and rehabilitation district, municipal water district, or a privately owned water utility serving any of these entities.
(19) (a) “Retail customer” means a person who purchases water directly from a public water supply system.
(b) “Retail customer” includes residential, commercial, industrial, and public authority parties who purchase water directly from a public water supply system.
(c) “Retail customer” does not include a consecutive water system.
(20) “Schematic” means a diagram that represents the elements of a public water supply system using general locations and graphic symbols rather than scaled maps.
(21) (a) “Source” means an individual location where water is withdrawn from groundwater or surface water.
(b) “Source” includes a well, spring, lake, river, or pond.
(22) “Straddling community” has the meaning specified under s. 281.346 (1) (t), Stats. (23) “Total resources costs” has the meaning specified under s. 281.348 (1) (e), Stats. (24) “Water supply service area” means an area in which the public water supply system provides water or may provide water to the public during the planning period covered by the water supply service area plan.
(25) “Water supply service area plan” or “plan” means a document developed in compliance with this chapter.
(26) “Water supply system” has the meaning specified under s. 281.346 (1) (wp), Stats. (27) “Waters of the state” has the meaning specified under s. 281.01 (18), Stats. (28) “Well” has the meaning specified under s. 281.34 (1) (h), Stats. (29) “Withdraw” has the meaning specified under s. 281.348 (1) (f), Stats. (30) “Withdrawal” has the meaning specified under s. 281.348 (1) (g), Stats. NR 854.04 Plan requirements (1) A person owning or operating a public water supply system that serves a population of 10,000 or more, and that withdraws water from the waters of the state, shall prepare a water supply service area plan on or before December 31, 2025.
(2) A person owning or operating a public water supply system that serves a population of 10,000 or more shall prepare and obtain department approval of a water supply service area plan before the department may grant approval for a new or increased withdrawal from the Great Lakes basin under s. 281.346 (4s) and (5), Stats. (3) A person owning or operating a public water supply system that requests a new or increased diversion of Great Lakes water under s. 281.346 (4), Stats., shall prepare and obtain department approval for a water supply service area plan before the department may grant approval of any new or increased diversion, regardless of the size of the population served by the public water supply system, unless the diversion proposal includes providing water to a straddling community that includes an electronics and information technology manufacturing zone designated under s. 238.396 (1m), Stats.. (4) After December 31, 2025, any person owning or operating a public water supply system that serves a population of less than 10,000 but the system projects to serve a population of 10,000 or more in the future shall prepare a water supply service area plan before the date when the public water supply system is projected to serve a population of 10,000 or more.
(5) A person owning or operating a public water supply system with a plan that does not require department approval shall review the plan every 5 years and update the plan as needed. A new plan shall be prepared on or before the expiration date of the plan.
(6) A person owning or operating a public water supply system that has an approved water supply service area plan shall submit an updated water supply service area plan to the department for approval at least 180 calendar days before the expiration of an approved water supply service area plan.
NR 854.05 Content of a water supply service area plan. A person required to prepare a plan under s. NR 854.04 shall prepare a plan that includes all of the following: (1) Establishment of planning period. The plan shall identify the planning period covered by the plan. The planning period shall be at least 10 years and no more than 20 years. The plan shall include an expiration date for the plan.
(2) Delineation of the area. (a) The plan shall delineate the area for which the plan is being prepared, including all areas to which water supply from the public water supply system is currently being served and the projected growth area for the system within the planning period under sub. (1). Identifying an area as a projected growth area for planning purposes does not obligate the public water supply system to provide water to the projected growth area.
(b) The water supply service area may be limited as provided under s. 66.0813 (3) (a), Stats. (c) A plan submitted to the department for approval under s. NR 854.04 (3) or (4) is subject to all of the following requirements when delineating the area for which a plan is being prepared: 1. An areawide water quality planning agency may delineate the area for all public water supply systems in the planning area for which the agency is designated.
2. The plan shall include a map showing the proposed delineated water supply service area for the public water supply system.
3. If the Great Lakes council approves a diversion area for a public water supply system proposing to make a diversion from the Great Lakes basin under s. 281.346 (4) (e), Stats., that diversion area shall be the delineated water supply service area for the plan.
(3) Description of the public water supply system. A plan shall include a description of the public water supply using schematics, as appropriate. The description shall include all of the following, as applicable:
(a) An identification of the existing water sources serving the system, including all wells, surface water intakes, and any water purchased from any other water system.
(b) A description of any identified or documented water quality issues relative to current sources of water.
(c) An identification of all consecutive water systems currently purchasing water from the public water supply system and all consecutive water systems anticipated to purchase water from the public water supply system during the planning period.
(d) A plan requiring department approval under s. NR 854.04 (3) or (4) shall also include in the description of the public water supply system all of the following, as applicable: 1. A description and schematic identifying the general location of existing water treatment facilities include a description of the type and size of the treatment facilities and related equipment. The description shall also indicate the final disposition of the wastewater and sludge from the treatment processes.
2. A description and schematic of the existing water storage and distribution facilities including, as applicable: the location of water mains, water pressure booster stations, water pressure reducing stations, metering stations, storage reservoirs, and any connections with other water utilities.
3. A map showing the location of the Great Lakes basin boundary in relation to its public water supply facilities.
(4) Description of existing water sources and withdrawals. (a) The plan shall describe the public water supply system’s water sources and withdrawals including all of the following, as applicable:
1. A statement identifying the withdrawals used to supply water to the system.
2. The average daily withdrawal amount for each water source in each of the last 10 years.
3. The maximum withdrawal capacity of each water source.
4. For any consecutive water system that purchases a portion of its water supply, the public water supply system's average daily water supply obtained from each water supplier for each of the last 10 years.
(b) The description of existing sources under par. (a) for a plan requiring department approval under s. NR 854.04 (3) or (4) shall include all of the following: 1. A description of the methods used to measure or estimate the amounts of withdrawal, amount of use, and non-revenue water.
2. A description of water quality treatment required or expected to be required relating to existing water supply sources.
3. A description and schematic of the location and method of return flow to the Great Lakes basin.
4. A table showing the public water supply system’s proposed or existing diversion amounts and corresponding return flows amounts.
5. A description of the methods used to measure diversion and return flow amounts.
(5) Description of current water use. The plan shall describe the existing water use of public water supply system, and shall include all of the following:
(a) The population and population density of the public water supply system's existing service area.
(b) A table or summary of the number of retail customers purchasing water for residential use, commercial use, industrial use, and public authority use for each year in the last 10 years.
(c) A table or summary of sales of water for residential use, commercial use, industrial use, and public authority use for each year in the last 10 years.
