Lawmakers study weaknesses in groundwater protection law

Talk about it

Wisconsin legislators will hear about weaknesses in the state’s groundwater protection law on Wednesday.

Assembly Natural Resources Committee chairman Spencer Black of Madison says there are numerous problems around the state with groundwater supplies.

Black’s committee and a similar panel in the Senate have invited speakers to talk about it.

Their testimony could result in tougher groundwater protection bills later in the session.

The concerns include heavy irrigation and municipal water pumping during a dry summer in central Wisconsin.

A DNR official says it has heavily reduced the flow of the Little Plover River plus some other nearby streams.

Black says another concern involves a proposed water bottling plant near Oxford in Marquette County.

Crystal Geyser Roxane of California has met with environmental groups to discuss plans for a 100,000 square foot plant that could eventually pump up to 300,000 gallons of water a day.

The site is surrounded by wetlands, and is near Allen Creek.

George Kraft of the UW-Stevens Point Groundwater Center estimates that over 90 percent of Wisconsin’s surface waters are not legally protected from excessive pumping.

Tags: wisconsin, groundwater, protection