Join hundreds of citizens from across the state on Wednesday, February 21st to talk with your state Assembly Representative and your state Senator about why Stewardship, restoring the integrity of natural resource management, protecting the future of Great Lakes water, and clean energy are important to you.

More than 50 environmental, conservation, and sportsmen groups—with input from citizens across the state—identified four Conservation Priorities with suggested legislative initiatives:

• Stewardship Fund.
  The legislature can reauthorize the Stewardship Fund, improve the program and guarantee it receives appropriate funding.
• Hunter, Angler, Trapper Bill of Rights.
  To restore the integrity of natural resource management, Wisconsin should pass legislation to require Natural Resource Board (NRB) nominees be confirmed within six months of nomination, have the NRB appoint the DNR Secretary, and the amend the state constitution so conservation funds are spent solely for their designated purposes.
• Protecting the Great Lakes.
  Wisconsin must pass Great Lakes Compact legislation that has strong conservation standards, protects our Public Trust, and limits diversions so the Great Lakes’ water supply and ecosystem is enhanced and maintained.
• Creating a Clean Energy Future.
  Wisconsin can create good paying jobs and protect the environment by investing in renewable energy. Two bills will encourage the production of renewable energy and reduce energy costs for Wisconsin public schools.

In addition to providing drinking water, groundwater is used by municipalities for sewage treatment, by farmers to water livestock and irrigate crops, by industries for a variety of processes, and by residential users. Groundwater is also a source of water for many of Wisconsin’s lakes. However, a growing thirst for groundwater and declining groundwater levels have some communities looking for new sources of water.

Growing thirst for groundwater concerns lake resident

The Lake Beulah Management District in Walworth County has been involved in a protracted legal dispute with the Village of East Troy, which wants to sink a high-capacity well into a shallow aquifer near the shoreline of Lake Beulah. The District recently empowered itself to block the sinking of new wells within its boundaries by passing an ordinance. The new ordinance requires a permit from the District before a well is sunk, and says that water pumped out of the basin, above or below ground, must be returned to the basin, a directive that reflects a hotly debated issue in Waukesha's attempt to divert water from Lake Michigan.

Although there is disagreement about whether the District has the authority to adopt such an ordinance, residents of Upper Phantom Lake near Mukwonago and Pine and Beaver lakes in north- central Waukesha County are watching closely. These lakes are also concerned about the installation of shallow wells to quench the water needs of expanding populations and developments of nearby communities.

Groundwater Law overlooks lakes

In the case of lakes, only those lakes designated as ORWs (there are no lakes designated as ERWs) are covered under the statute. Currently there are 97 lakes and 6 flowages designated as ORWs; 99% of Wisconsin’s 15,000 lakes are not covered under Wisconsin’s current groundwater law. Read WAL's concerns with the proposed rule.