January 24, 2020 - Introduced by Representatives Kurtz, Pope, Summerfield,
Novak, Shankland, Hebl, Kitchens, Felzkowski, Zimmerman, Kulp,
Gruszynski, Mursau, Sargent, Anderson, Considine, Doyle, Subeck,
Tranel, Swearingen, Petryk, C. Taylor, Vining, Spreitzer, Edming, Sinicki,
Emerson, Cabrera, Ohnstad, Zamarripa, Vruwink, Billings, Tusler,
Thiesfeldt and Allen, cosponsored by Senators Jacque and Olsen. Referred
to Committee on Government Accountability and Oversight.

This bill creates an Office of Water Policy that is attached to the University of
Wisconsin System and housed within the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History
Survey of the Division of Extension of UW-Madison. The purpose of the office is to
coordinate efforts to manage, conserve, protect, and enhance the productivity of the
state's water resources for domestic, municipal, commercial, agricultural, industrial,
recreational, and other private and public uses. The office must engage in specified
analytical and evaluative activities, act as a liaison to the Blue Accounting initiative
of the commission created by the Great Lakes basin compact, and submit a biennial
report to the governor and the legislature on its activities. The office is authorized
to provide technical assistance to local governments. The bill requires state
agencies, upon the request of the office, to cooperate and assist the office in carrying
out its duties and exercising its powers.

The bill requires the governor to appoint as director of the office an individual
with experience in managing water resources for a wide range of uses with a priority
on experience in both agricultural and industrial uses. The joint committee on
legislative organization must concur with the appointment. The bill creates the
following duties for the director:

Public dashboard. No later than December 31, 2021, the director must create
a publicly accessible user-friendly dashboard for municipal water quality reports,
private well data, and surface water quality information. The dashboard must be

compiled from information from the Public Service Commission, the Department of
Health Services, the Department of Natural Resources, campuses of the University
of Wisconsin System, the Division of Extension of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, and other other credible organizations.

Sharing information. The director must facilitate and make
recommendations for sharing information between state agencies, campuses of the
University of Wisconsin System, and other stakeholders.

Job opportunities. The director must work with the Department of Workforce
Development to analyze national and state demand for job opportunities in the area
of water quality and proactively solicit private sector employers to gather data on
those opportunities. No later than December 31, 2021, the director must submit a
report on the data to the Board of Regents of the UW System. The report must
include an analysis of undergraduate and graduate water programs at colleges and
universities around the nation and must focus on the strength and nationwide
reputation of those programs. The Board of Regents must use the information
contained in the report to avoid program repetition in designing new programs that
address the demand for water quality programs.

Area water quality challenges. The director must divide the state into areas
to better understand each area's diverse and localized water quality issues. No later
than December 31, 2021, the director must prepare a report on each area's unique
water quality challenges, including their severity, and each area's known level of
specific contaminants. The report must also describe the overall success of state and
federal water quality programs in each area.