Register June 2024 No. 822
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 851.10
NR 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 History
History: CR 23-050: cr. Register June 2024 No. 822, eff. 7-1-24. NR 851.11
NR 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 Note
Note: 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 Note
Note: 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 Note
Note: 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 Note
1. 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 Note
2. 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 Note
3. 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 Note
Note: 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.
