Conservation Groups See Report as a Call to Action

(Madison, WI) After more than two years of meetings the Groundwater Advisory Committee

(GAC), today released its final report to the legislature. The report analyzes how Wisconsin’s

current groundwater law is working and offers recommendations for improvement.

The Committee, which was created by the legislature and comprised of municipal, industrial,

agricultural and environmental representatives and charged with looking at what is still

needed in the Wisconsin’s groundwater law, did not reach consensus on how to best manage

the future of Wisconsin’s groundwater. What is clear to a group of conservation organizations

responding to the report is that the current law has gaps in protection for important resources,

that improvements to groundwater management are necessary, and that there are

scientifically-defensible options for the state legislature to consider.

Existing state groundwater management laws fail to protect many of Wisconsin’s beautiful

lakes and rivers. The Little Plover River, a groundwater-fed trout stream near Stevens Point,

completely dried up during the summers of 2005 and 2006 due to over-pumping by local

wells. “The current law does nothing to prevent this from happening again, and should be

revised to require an evaluation of the potential impacts of all new wells on existing water

resources as part of the permitting process, ” commented Lori Grant, policy manager of the

River Alliance of Wisconsin.

Almost 70% of Wisconsin’s 15,000 lakes depend on groundwater for their water supply, yet

99% are unprotected under our current groundwater law. Water levels are dropping on many

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lakes across the state, often by several feet. “It’s not a lake if there is no water,” stated Tami

Jackson of the Wisconsin Association of Lakes. “Many waterfront property owners’ piers are

now on dry land overlooking puddles. Almost all of our lakes fall through a huge gap in our

groundwater law. They need protection.”

Springs, which are critically important to many of Wisconsin’s most valuable surface waters

and are also threatened by increased water pumping, also receive limited protection under

current law. “The GAC report recognizes that only a small number of springs in the state

receive any protections under the current law and appropriately recommends that more work

be done to comprehensively inventory Wisconsin’s springs,” stated Will Hoyer, water

specialist at Clean Wisconsin. “Given their ecological significance, especially to resources

like trout streams, an expansion of springs’ legal protection remains a priority.”

Jodi Habush Sinykin, Of Counsel to Midwest Environmental Advocates and a GAC member,

states, “Wisconsin’s 2003 groundwater law – although an important first step – falls short in

several critical areas.” She continues, “The Legislature recognized that groundwater is a

complex issue that affects all the state’s citizens. I believe this report provides the Legislature

with the scientific information and the policy analysis needed to address the existing gaps in

protection and to ensure that the state’s extremely valuable groundwater resource remains

sustainable.”

• Clean Wisconsin, an environmental advocacy organization, protects Wisconsin’s clean

• Midwest Environmental Advocates is Wisconsin’s first and only non-profit, public interest

• The River Alliance of Wisconsin is a nonprofit, nonpartisan river conservation

• The Wisconsin Association of Lakes is a non-profit group of citizens, organizations and