Chapter NR 851
MANAGEMENT OF GREAT LAKES DIVERSIONS
Subchapter I — Purpose, Definitions, and General Provisions
NR 851.13 Responsible persons. Subchapter II — Straddling Community Diversions
NR 851.21 Straddling community diversion application. NR 851.22 Straddling community diversion review. NR 851.23 Amendments to straddling community diversion approvals. Subchapter III — Intrabasin Transfers
NR 851.31 Intrabasin transfer application. NR 851.32 Intrabasin transfer review. Subchapter IV — Community Within a Straddling County Diversions
NR 851.41 Community within a straddling county diversion application. NR 851.42 Department review for a community within a straddling county diversion. NR 851.43 Amendment to a community within a straddling county diversion approval. Subchapter V — The Exception Standard
NR 851.50 Exception standard applicability. NR 851.51 Exception standard application requirements. NR 851.52 Exception standard department review. Subchapter VI — Approvals, Conditions, and Reporting Requirements
NR 851.60 Preexisting diversions. NR 851.61 Approval, conditional approval, and denial. NR 851.62 Termination of approval. Subchapter VII — Public Notice and Participation
NR 851.71 Receipt of application and preliminary review. NR 851.72 Public notice and comment. NR 851.73 Notice to Great Lakes council and regional body. NR 851.74 Tribal notice and consultation. NR 851.75 Public hearings. NR 851.76 Open records requests. NR 851.10NR 851.10 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to establish an application process, requirements, and department review procedures related to diversions of Great Lakes basin water, in compliance with ss. 281.343 and 281.346, Stats., and consistent with the requirements of the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. NR 851.10 HistoryHistory: CR 23-050: cr. Register June 2024 No. 822, eff. 7-1-24. NR 851.11NR 851.11 Definitions. In this chapter: NR 851.11(1)(1) “Applicant” means a person who submits an application for a diversion approval. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (d), Stats., reads as follows: “Community within a straddling county” means any city, village, or town that is not a straddling community and that is located outside the Great Lakes basin but wholly within a county that lies partly within the Great Lakes basin. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (e), Stats., reads as follows: “Consumptive use” means a use of water that results in the loss of or failure to return some or all of the water to the basin from which the water is withdrawn due to evaporation, incorporation into products, or other processes. NR 851.11(3m)(3m) “Department” means the department of natural resources. NR 851.11(4)(4) “Diversion” has the meaning given in s. 281.346 (1) (h), Stats. “Diversion” includes diversions to straddling communities, diversions to communities within a straddling county and intrabasin transfers. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (h), Stats., reads as follows: “Diversion” means a transfer of water from the Great Lakes basin into a watershed outside the Great Lakes basin, or from the watershed of one of the Great Lakes into that of another, by any means of transfer, including a pipeline, canal, tunnel, aqueduct, channel, modification of the direction of a water course, tanker ship, tanker truck, or rail tanker except that “diversion” does not include any of the following: NR 851.11 Note1. The transfer of a product produced in the Great Lakes basin or in the watershed of one of the Great Lakes, using waters of the Great Lakes basin, out of the Great Lakes basin or out of the watershed.
NR 851.11 Note2. The transmission of water within a line that extends outside of the Great Lakes basin as it conveys water from one point to another within the Great Lakes basin if no water is used outside of the Great Lakes basin.
NR 851.11 Note3. The transfer of bottled water from the Great Lakes basin in containers of 5.7 gallons or less.
NR 851.11(5)(5) “Diversion area” means the area outside the Great Lakes basin that is approved by the department to be served water from the Great Lakes basin. NR 851.11(6)(6) “Great Lakes basin” means the watershed of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River upstream from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, within the jurisdiction of the parties. The boundary of the Great Lakes basin is derived from the subbasin (8-digit) 4th level hydrologic units from the digital Watershed Boundary Dataset for the State of Wisconsin, consisting of geo-referenced digital data and associated attributes created in accordance with the “FGDC Proposal, Version 1.0 - Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries 3/01/02.” NR 851.11 NoteNote: A copy of the Great Lakes basin boundary dataset is available as the ‘Major Basins’ layer in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources GIS Open Data Portal, available at https://data-wi-dnr.opendata.arcgis.com. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (jj), Stats., reads as follows: “Great Lakes council” means the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council, created under s. 281.343 (2) (a). NR 851.11 NoteNote: The Great Lakes council is comprised of the Great Lake Governors, or their designees, who consult and coordinate with the Premiers of Ontario, Quebec, and the Great-Lakes St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body to protect the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.
NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (jm), Stats., reads as follows: “Intrabasin transfer” means the transfer of water from the watershed of one of the Great Lakes into the watershed of another of the Great Lakes. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (nm), Stats., reads as follows: Notwithstanding s. 281.01 (9), “Person” means an individual or other entity, including a government or nongovernmental organization, including any scientific, professional, business, nonprofit, or public interest organization or association that is neither affiliated with nor under the direction of a government. NR 851.11(10)(10) “Preexisting diversion” means a diversion of water from the Great Lakes basin into a watershed outside of the Great Lakes basin that existed prior to the ratification of the Great Lakes Compact on December 8, 2008, and received an approval from the department under s. 281.344 (3m) or (4), Stats. NR 851.11(11)(11) “Proposal” means a request for a new or increased diversion of Great Lakes water. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (pm), Stats., reads as follows: “Public water supply” means water distributed to the public through a physically connected system of treatment, storage, and distribution facilities that serve a group of largely residential customers and that may also serve industrial, commercial, and other institutional customers. NR 851.11(13)(13) “Public water supply system” means a physically connected system of treatment, storage, and distribution facilities that distributes public water supply that is treated for human consumption, and that is owned by a city, village, county, town, town sanitary district, utility district, public inland lake and rehabilitation district, or municipal water district, joint local water authorities, or a privately owned water utility serving any of these entities. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (ps), Stats., reads as follows: “Reasonable water supply alternative” means a water supply alternative that is similar in cost to, and as environmentally sustainable and protective of public health as, the proposed new or increased diversion and that does not have a greater adverse environmental impact than the proposed new or increased diversion. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (q), Stats., reads as follows: “Regional body” means the body consisting of the governors of the parties and the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, Canada, or their designees as established by the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section NR 110.03 (29t) reads as follows: “Sewer service area” means that area served or anticipated to be served by a sewage collection system. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (r), Stats., reads as follows: “Source watershed” means the watershed from which a withdrawal originates. If water is withdrawn directly from a Great Lake or from the St. Lawrence River, then the source watershed is the watershed of that Great Lake or the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, respectively. If water is withdrawn from the watershed of a stream that is a direct tributary to a Great Lake or a direct tributary to the St. Lawrence River, then the source watershed is the watershed of that Great Lake or the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, respectively. NR 851.11 NoteNote: Section 281.346 (1) (t), Stats., reads as follows: “Straddling community” means any city, village, or town that, based on its boundary existing as of the compact’s effective date [December 8, 2008], is partly within the Great Lakes basin or partly within the watersheds of 2 of the Great Lakes and that is wholly within any county that lies partly or completely within the Great Lakes basin.
