Urgent!  Ask your legislators to support the Groundwater Protection Bill!

Over the past several months we have been telling you about upcoming legislation to protect our groundwater supplies and groundwater dependent rivers, lakes and wetlands.   At long last, the groundwater bill is here!  Your voice is critical to show strong support for the bill.  Call or email your legislators TODAY and ask that they support strong groundwater protection. The bills currently pending are AB844 in the Assembly and SB620 in the Senate.  Read the full text here!

The great news is that the legislation does reflect the priorities we have been fighting to include in this bill:

1. Authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to identify areas where coordinated management of groundwater is needed to avoid or correct harm done to groundwater supplies and associated lakes, streams and wetlands, and to oversee development and execution of groundwater management plans;
2. Creates a process for the scientific review of new wells to prevent impacts to sensitive natural resources; and,
3. Requires consideration of conservation measures to ensure new groundwater withdrawals are used efficiently.

A strong show of early support is especially crucial for the success of this bill since the legislative session ends in April, and there is still a lot of work to be done.  If legislative leaders see the bill is a priority because of its long list of cosponsors, they will accommodate these short timeframes.  And stay tuned – hearings should be announced soon, and your voice will be needed then too!

Call, write or email your legislators TODAY, and ask them to support AB844 and SB620!  For contact information for your legislators, click here.  See the right hand column for a draft message for your convenience, but feel free to personalize this message and let them know why Wisconsin’s groundwater resources are important to YOU!

Dear Legislator, (Find your legislators here!)

I am writing to encourage you support passage of Groundwater Protection bill, AB844 and SB620.  These measures will help protect our precious groundwater resources from excessive pumping from municipal and irrigation wells. 

Groundwater not only provides the majority of Wisconsinites with their drinking water, but it also maintains the water levels and the high quality of our treasured lakes, rivers and wetlands.  While Wisconsin took an important step forward in 2004 with the first Groundwater Protection Act, it was merely a first step, and the time has come to close the loopholes in the first law.

AB844 and SB620 contain the following provisions that are important to me:

1. Authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to identify areas where coordinated management of groundwater is needed to avoid or correct harm done to groundwater supplies and associated lakes, streams and wetlands, and to oversee development and execution of groundwater management plans;
2. Creates a process for the scientific review of new wells to prevent impacts to sensitive natural resources; and,
3. Requires consideration of conservation measures to ensure new groundwater withdrawals are used efficiently.

It is unacceptable that in a state that cherishes its water resources, we still allow waterways to dry up.  The best example is the Little Plover River in Portage County, a popular trout stream which has dried up two years in a row because of excessive pumping.  Areas all over our state are experiencing similar problems.  The time for this legislation is NOW!  Please add your name as a cosponsor to this critical bill, and help protect Wisconsin’s precious groundwater resource.

You need to act fast the bills are currently being considered in committee.  I hope you will join me in protecting our valuable groundwater resource.