Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Wants More Control Over Lake Water Flow

By Sean Ryan

Plans to extend water service to undeveloped areas would require regional approval if the state Department of Natural Resources gets its way.

The DNR supports the idea in conversations with state legislators (PDF) drafting a bill to ratify the Great Lakes Water Compact, said Chuck Ledin, director of the DNR office of the Great Lakes. The proposal would require a municipality to get approval from an area’s regional planning commission board of directors for any extension of water service to a new area. Each commission board has representatives from the counties and municipalities in the region it covers.

The DNR would also hold approval authority, Ledin said, and any state legislation would set the standards that each plan would have to meet.

Municipalities now only need DNR approval for the infrastructure that carries the water. But the new system would require regional planners to use population projections and regional plans to determine if a project is necessary and environmentally responsible. It would also protect “recharge areas” where rainwater flows to underground wells.

The idea is based on permitting requirements for sewer-service extensions, Ledin said.

“It’s to figure out what’s the best investment of public funds in the area to provide this service, and we think that same concept should apply to water service,” he said. “It is moving into a different approach, and we think that it will help with implementation of the compact.”

The goal is to make municipalities create plans that dictate where water service would be allowed for future projects, Ledin said.

“You try to get all of the controversy into the planning,” he said, “instead of for each individual project.”

Ledin said he didn’t know if it’s included in the bill state Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Poplar, plans to introduce this month. Dan Kanninen, Jauch’s chief of staff, said he didn’t want to discuss too many details of the draft water compact bill before it’s officially introduced to the Legislature.

“Generally, the environmental goals are the same, but how do you deal with that with a little flexibility?” Kanninen said. “What the DNR wants to do is engage in planning.”

Meanwhile, environmental groups and the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities on Friday were thirsty for details on the water compact legislation.

“(The DNR) is saying it’s tied into some sort of rational planning effort,” said Peter McAvoy, vice president of environmental health for the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, Milwaukee. “We’re saying, ‘Show us how you would do that.’”

Rich Eggleston, spokesman for the Alliance of Cities, said his main concern is ensuring the water compact legislation keeps communities in other states from leeching from the Great Lakes while also giving Wisconsin communities access to water needed for development.

Eggleston said he heard talk that the legislation might prohibit municipalities in counties that straddle the continental divide from annexing land to expand their borders, but Kanninen said that wouldn’t be part of the legislation.

“We’d rather see responsible growth than anything else, and if the Great Lakes Compact stands in the way of responsible growth, then there is a problem,” he said. “What does responsible growth mean? We’re talking in broad context.”

Eggleston said he is concerned about leveling additional planning requirements for water service extension, since state Smart Growth laws are in place to guide those issues.

Originally published by Sean Ryan.

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