What is The Strong Compact for a Strong Wisconsin?

The Great Lakes Compact is officially called the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, and refers to the compact made between the Great Lakes states' governors. The Great Lakes Compact is a general document, with agreed-upon principles to manage Great Lakes water and prevent major diversions. Each state can create its own implementing regulations with which to administer the Compact. The platform implementing legislation that Clean Wisconsin and its conservation partners are pushing is called the Strong Compact for a Strong Wisconsin.

Below is a description of the Strong Compact for a Strong Wisconsin.

Water Conservation
If communities can demonstrate that they are effectively using the water they already have, they will be more likely to receive approval for a diversion. Furthermore, with water conservation standards, we will be able to minimize the size of the diversions from the Great Lakes. Without this requirement, communities could still potentially receive the diversion, but there would be no mechanism in place to encourage them to use that diverted water wisely. Finally, water conservation is a win-win situation: it reduces our impact on water resources, and saves us the energy costs of pumping.

Return Flow
The basic Compact requires that diverted water be returned, but does not give clear guidance on the condition of the water that is returned and its potential impacts. Provisions for "environmentally responsible return flow" would require the water be returned at a temperature that won't harm the natural fishery, is of a quality that won't harm drinking water supplies and natural habitat, and is a quantity that will not disrupt natural flows and contribute to increased erosion, polluted runoff, and flooding of homes, farms and businesses.

In-basin Water Usage
Our state's largest water users (e.g., municipalities and businesses and recreational and fishing interests) depend on the long-term sustainability of the Great Lakes. Wisconsin must ensure that we have sustainable water management practices in the law that include intelligent reporting and monitoring requirements and an appropriate threshold to "trigger" the state's review of in-basin water uses. In order to provide value, the statutory threshold must be easily measurable and consistent. If, on the other hand, the law were to contain a legal threshold that would rarely, if ever, be triggered, the state would lose out on the opportunity to monitor and manage our in-basin water resources in an intelligent and sustainable fashion.

Compliance with Regional Water Plans
Our state has a commitment to rational development. In order to guarantee sustainable growth for communities in our state, statutory guidance must exist to maximize the use of existing infrastructure and minimize short and long term economic and environmental costs.

Clarify the Bottled Water Loophole
Without specifically clarifying how new bottled water withdrawals will be addressed, future confusion or conflicts could result in national and international water bottlers attempting to avoid the standards applicable to all other water users. Also, just as statutory protections already exist under Act 310 to prevent harm to the state's groundwater resources from bottled water withdrawals, comparable protections will need to be put in place to prevent like harm to tributary surface waters like rivers and streams.

Citizen Participation
The implementing language of the Compact must create an open and transparent process by providing opportunities for citizens to review and comment on proposed diversions and allowing ample time for them to do so.

Effective Date
It may take years for Congress to ratify the Compact. In the meantime, several communities in Wisconsin are likely to apply for diversions under current law. Those communities seeking diversion will more likely succeed in their requests if they can demonstrate compliance with Wisconsin's Compact provisions. Wisconsin is better off having rules for the permitting process that are set by the legislature with input from all stakeholders, than rules that are created piecemeal by successive applications.