High-capacity wells, as defined by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), can pump over 70 gallons a minute, or just over 100,000 gallons of water per day. High-cap wells have recently emerged as a serious offender in aquifer drawdown, overall groundwater depletion, and the diminishment of rivers and lakes.
Now, a failed bill dredged up from last session was reintroduced in February would serve to further worsen the ongoing problems. The ‘Death by 1,000 Straws’ bill or SB 76/AB 105 has been resurrected in order to relax the existing rules regarding high-capacity wells. It does so by exempting replacement wells, and wells which have undergone ownership transfers, from review by state regulators.
Currently, state officials have the ability to correct or change high-cap well permits if it is shown that the well is effecting the water resource. In sharp contrast, this bill would allow the number of existing high-capacity wells to continue pumping at their current levels forever, without any meaningful oversight.
It’s pretty basic physics—if one person uses more water than their fair share, someone else will have less.
Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), food processors, and frac-sand mine operators are three of the primary operators of high-capacity wells, and their excessive withdrawals of groundwater mean these large operations will be given the right to more water than every day Wisconsinites.
Proponents of the bill tout their study provision as a necessary control on abuse and over pumping, but these studies do not have to occur until four years after the transfer or replacement, meanwhile allowing years of possibly reckless extraction. Additionally, the bill authorizes “protection” without mentioning regulations regarding wells utilized for drinking water, a gaping loophole.
This bill is a misguided attempt to help the agriculture industry; however, it would not resolve the problems of water shortages for agricultural use, as allowing the unchecked pumping of high-capacity wells will simply deplete the precious groundwater resource faster, leaving farmers high and dry in the near future. We’ve already seen wells running dry in Monroe County, the Little Plover River running dry in Portage County, the Long Lake virtually disappearing in Waushara County, and more.
Property owners and local municipalities would also feel the sting as depleted groundwater would reduce quality of life and property values (imagine the drop going from lakeshore property to former lake-shore property). In turn, this could slice into property taxes relied upon to fund vital local government operations.
We were fortunately able to beat back several similar bills last year, which would have undermined protections for our most basic and essential resource: freshwater. We will once again have to answer the call to strike them down. Existing water quantity regulations have already come under assault and endured weakening from the courts and from within the DNR—it is crucial that we defeat not only SB 76, but all legislative and regulatory proposals that would lessen our water protections.
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However, for the good of Wisconsin’s waters we cannot settle for simply defeating the offending bills, but instead we must turn the political tide back towards the necessary and sensible regulations which will allow us to properly safeguard Wisconsin’s water resources for years to come.