LRB-3079/1
RCT:cjs:rs
2013 - 2014 LEGISLATURE
February 3, 2014 - Introduced by Senators Cowles, Farrow, Petrowski, Grothman
and Darling, cosponsored by Representatives Loudenbeck, Krug, Steineke,
Spiros, Bies, Marklein, Czaja, Ballweg, Tauchen, Thiesfeldt, LeMahieu,
Weininger, Kaufert and Klenke. Referred to Committee on Government
Operations, Public Works, and Telecommunications.
SB547,1,5 1An Act to amend 283.63 (1) (am) and 283.63 (4); and to create 283.13 (7) and
2283.16 of the statutes; relating to: adaptive management plans for reducing
3discharges of phosphorus and total suspended solids to the waters of the state
4and a statewide variance to the water quality standard for phosphorus for
5certain dischargers.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill provides for a variance to limits on the amount of phosphorus allowed
in discharges to water bodies that contain excessive amounts of phosphorus, if
conditions specified in the bill are met. The bill also authorizes the use of adaptive
management, explained below, to comply with water quality standards for
phosphorus and total suspended solids.
Water quality standards and effluent limitations
The federal Clean Water Act allows the federal Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to delegate responsibilities under the act, including issuing
wastewater discharge permits for point sources (factories and sewage treatment
plants, for example), to a state if the state's laws comply with requirements in the
act. EPA has delegated these responsibilities to this state.
Consistent with the Clean Water Act, current state law requires the
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to promulgate rules setting water quality
standards for the waters of the state. The standards include criteria for specific

pollutants. A criterion may be narrative (describing the characteristics that the
water should have) or numeric (specifying the maximum concentration of a
pollutant).
Under current federal and state law, wastewater discharge permits include
restrictions, called effluent limitations, on the amount of various pollutants that may
be discharged. One type of effluent limitation is applicable without regard to the
quality of the receiving water body and is based on the level of control achieved using
treatment technology that is reasonably available (considering cost, among other
things) for limiting the discharge of a pollutant. If this kind of limitation (called a
technology based effluent limitation) is not sufficient to ensure that a water quality
standard for a pollutant will be met in a particular water body, permits for sources
that discharge into the water body must generally contain effluent limitations for the
pollutant that are more stringent than the technology based effluent limitation and
that are designed to ensure that the water quality standard will be met. This kind
of limitation is called a water quality based effluent limitation.
Current law allows DNR to grant a permittee a variance to a water quality
based effluent limitation if the permittee demonstrates that complying with the
effluent limitation is not feasible for one of several reasons, including that applying
the effluent limitation to the source would cause substantial and widespread adverse
social and economic impacts in the area where the source is located. The term of a
variance may not exceed five years. A variance may be renewed, but only for as long
as it remains infeasible for the source to comply with the water quality based effluent
limitation. Variances are subject to review and approval by EPA.
Phosphorus water quality rules
In 2010, DNR promulgated rules adding a numerical water quality criterion to
the water quality standard for phosphorus. Some water bodies in Wisconsin do not
comply with the water quality standard for phosphorus. DNR's rules include some
options for sources that might have difficulty complying with a water quality based
effluent limitation for phosphorus, including extended schedules for achieving
compliance.
The options in the phosphorus rule also include a variance to water quality
based effluent limitations for stabilization pond and lagoon wastewater treatment
systems, which DNR indicates primarily serve small communities and small
industries. A permittee with one of these systems must provide information showing
that compliance would cause substantial and widespread adverse social and
economic impacts in the area where the system is located. If the variance is granted,
the permit must include an effluent limitation based on the best past performance
of the source with regard to phosphorus discharges and a requirement that the
permittee investigate techniques that would enable compliance with a water quality
based effluent limitation.
Statewide variance for phosphorus discharges
This bill requires the Department of Administration (DOA), in consultation
with DNR, to consider the costs of compliance with water quality based effluent
limitations for phosphorus by sources that cannot achieve compliance without
making major facility upgrades. A major facility upgrade is the addition of new

treatment equipment and a new treatment process. If DOA determines, after public
notice and consideration of public comments, that compliance by these sources is not
feasible because it would cause substantial and widespread adverse social and
economic impacts on a statewide basis, the bill provides for a variance to a water
quality based effluent limitation for phosphorus for a source that was covered by a
permit before the phosphorus water quality standard took effect if the permittee
certifies that the source cannot comply with the effluent limitation without a major
facility upgrade.
Under the bill, if a permittee receives the variance, DNR must include in the
the permit interim effluent limitations for phosphorus that are generally lower in
each successive permit term and must require the source to achieve compliance with
the water quality based effluent limitation by the end of the fourth permit term for
which DNR approves the variance (generally within 20 years). DNR must also
require the implementation of the permittee's choice of three kinds of measures to
reduce the amount of phosphorus entering the waters of the state.
The measures from which a permittee that receives the variance may choose
are constructing a project or implementing a plan, approved by DNR, to reduce
phosphorus pollution from other sources in the basin in which the source is located
in an amount equal to the number of pounds by which the amount of phosphorus
discharged by the point source exceeds a target amount specified in the bill; having
another person construct such a project or implement such a plan, also approved by
DNR; or making payments to counties in the basin to provide cost sharing for projects
that enable agricultural sources of nonpoint phosphorus pollution (runoff) to comply
with state standards for reducing runoff or for staff to implement projects that reduce
runoff. The payments are initially $50 times the number of pounds by which the
amount of phosphorus discharged by the point source exceeds a target amount
specified in the bill. DNR adjusts the amount per pound based on increases in the
consumer price index. A county is not required to accept these payments.
If DOA initially determines that compliance with water quality based effluent
limitations for phosphorus by sources that cannot achieve compliance without
making major facility upgrades is infeasible, the bill requires DOA, in consultation
with DNR, to review the determination every five years. If DOA finds that the
determination is no longer accurate, the variance terminates. As part of this review,
the bill also requires DOA to determine whether cost-effective technology is
available that would allow sources to comply with more stringent interim limitations
than those specified in the bill. If so, DNR must include those more stringent interim
limitations in permits when they are renewed.
Adaptive management
Adaptive management is a method for achieving compliance with a water
quality standard in a water body that contains excessive amounts of a pollutant.
Under adaptive management, a permittee who is subject to a water quality based
effluent limitation implements a plan under which the permittee works with others
to reduce the amount of pollution from various point sources and nonpoint sources
and uses information from monitoring, modeling, and other sources to adjust the
plan as needed. The permittee is subject to less restrictive effluent limitations while

the adaptive management plan is being implemented and less restrictive pollutant
limits may continue to apply if the water quality standard is achieved.
The bill authorizes DNR to allow a permittee to use adaptive management to
achieve compliance with the water quality standard for phosphorus or total
suspended solids (particles in the water) and, if it does so, to allow the permittee four
permit terms to achieve compliance.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB547,1 1Section 1. 283.13 (7) of the statutes is created to read:
SB547,4,102 283.13 (7) Adaptive management. (a) In this subsection, "adaptive
3management option" means an approach to achieving compliance with a water
4quality standard adopted under s. 281.15 or a total maximum daily load under 33
5USC 1313
(d) (1) (C) approved by the federal environmental protection agency under
6which a permittee implements a plan to achieve the water quality standard or total
7maximum daily load through verifiable reductions in the amount of water pollution
8from point sources and nonpoint sources, as defined in s. 281.16 (1) (e), in a basin or
9other area specified by the department and uses monitoring data, modeling, and
10other appropriate information to adjust the plan if needed to achieve compliance.
SB547,4,1611 (b) The department may authorize a permittee to use an adaptive management
12option to achieve compliance with the water quality standard for phosphorus or an
13approved total maximum daily load for total suspended solids, and if it does so, the
14department may specify a date under sub. (5) that provides 4 permit terms for the
15permittee to comply with its water quality based effluent limitation for phosphorus
16or total suspended solids.
SB547,2 17Section 2. 283.16 of the statutes is created to read:
SB547,5,2
1283.16 Statewide variance for phosphorus. (1) Definitions. In this
2section:
SB547,5,43 (a) "Basin" means the drainage area identified by an 8-digit hydrologic unit
4code, as determined by the U.S. Geological Survey.
SB547,5,65 (b) "Category" means a class or category of point sources specified by the
6department under s. 283.13 (1).
SB547,5,87 (d) "Existing source" means a point source that was covered by a permit on
8December 1, 2010.
SB547,5,109 (e) "Major facility upgrade" means the addition of new treatment equipment
10and a new treatment process.
SB547,5,1111 (g) "Nonpoint source" has the meaning given in s. 281.16 (1) (e).
SB547,5,1512 (h) "Target value" means the number of pounds of phosphorus that would be
13discharged from a point source during a year if the average concentration of
14phosphorus in the effluent discharged by the point source during the year was 0.2
15milligrams per liter.
SB547,5,1916 (i) "Water quality based effluent limitation" means an effluent limitation under
17s. 283.13 (5), including an effluent limitation based on a total maximum daily load
18under 33 USC 1313 (d) (1) (C) approved by the federal environmental protection
19agency.
SB547,6,2 20(2) Initial determination concerning the water quality standard for
21phosphorus.
(a) The department of administration, in consultation with the
22department of natural resources, shall determine whether attaining the water
23quality standard for phosphorus, adopted under s. 281.15, through compliance with
24water quality based effluent limitations by point sources that cannot achieve
25compliance without major facility upgrades is not feasible because it would cause

1substantial and widespread adverse social and economic impacts on a statewide
2basis.
SB547,6,43 (b) The department of administration shall include all of the following in its
4determination under par. (a):
SB547,6,75 1. A calculation of the statewide cost of compliance with water quality based
6effluent limitations for phosphorus by point sources that cannot achieve compliance
7without major facility upgrades.
SB547,6,138 2. A calculation of the statewide per household cost for water pollution control
9by publicly owned treatment works that cannot achieve compliance with water
10quality based effluent limitations for phosphorus without major facility upgrades,
11including the projected costs of compliance with those water quality based effluent
12limitations, and a calculation of the percentage of median household income the per
13household cost represents.
SB547,6,1714 4. A determination of whether the cost of compliance with water quality based
15effluent limitations for phosphorus by point sources that cannot achieve compliance
16without major facility upgrades would cause substantial adverse social and economic
17impacts on a statewide basis.
SB547,6,2118 5. A determination of whether the cost of compliance with water quality based
19effluent limitations for phosphorus by point sources that cannot achieve compliance
20without major facility upgrades would cause widespread adverse social and
21economic impacts on a statewide basis.
SB547,7,222 (c) The department of administration shall make a preliminary determination
23under par. (a) no later than the 60th day after the effective date of this paragraph ....
24[LRB inserts date]. The department of administration shall provide public notice,
25through an electronic notification system that it establishes or selects, of its

1preliminary determination and shall provide the opportunity for public comment on
2the preliminary determination for at least 30 days following the public notice.
SB547,7,53 (d) The department of administration shall consider any public comments in
4making its final determination under par. (a) and shall make the final determination
5no later than the 30th day after the end of the public comment period.
SB547,7,86 (e) The department of administration shall send a notice that describes its final
7determination under par. (a) to the legislative reference bureau for publication in the
8administrative register.
SB547,7,149 (f) If the department of administration determines under par. (a) that attaining
10the water quality standard for phosphorus through compliance with water quality
11based effluent limitations by point sources that cannot achieve compliance without
12major facility upgrades is not feasible, the determination remains in effect until the
13department of administration finds under sub. (3) (c) 1. that the determination is no
14longer accurate.
SB547,8,2 15(3) Review of findings and requirements of variance. (a) Every 5 years,
16beginning in 2019, if a determination under sub. (2) (a) that attaining the water
17quality standard for phosphorus through compliance with water quality based
18effluent limitations by point sources that cannot achieve compliance without major
19facility upgrades is not feasible is in effect, the department of administration, in
20consultation with the department of natural resources, shall prepare a report, no
21later than September 1, regarding any changes in the technology available for
22controlling phosphorus discharges from point sources and regarding the effluent
23limitations for phosphorus that are reasonably achievable. The department of
24administration shall consult with permittees that would be subject to water quality

1based effluent limitations for phosphorus and other interested parties in preparing
2the report.
SB547,8,43 (b) The department of administration shall include all of the following in a
4report under par. (a):
SB547,8,75 1. A determination of whether technology is reasonably available for point
6sources to comply with effluent limitations for phosphorus that are more stringent
7than those in sub. (6) (a).
SB547,8,108 2. A determination of whether technology is reasonably available for any
9category of point sources to comply with effluent limitations for phosphorus that are
10more stringent than those in sub. (6) (a).
SB547,8,1311 3. A determination of whether any technology that is reasonably available for
12compliance with effluent limitations for phosphorus that are more stringent than
13those in sub. (6) (a) is cost effective.
SB547,8,1514 (c) Based on its report under par. (a), the department of administration, in
15consultation with the department of natural resources, shall do all of the following:
SB547,8,1916 1. Decide whether the determination that attaining the water quality standard
17for phosphorus through compliance with water quality based effluent limitations by
18point sources that cannot achieve compliance without major facility upgrades is not
19feasible remains accurate.
SB547,8,2520 2. If the department of administration decides under subd. 1. that the
21determination remains accurate, decide whether it is appropriate to apply more
22stringent effluent limitations than those in sub. (6) (a) to all point sources or to any
23category of point sources, based on the availability and cost effectiveness of
24technology for compliance and, if so, specify those more stringent effluent limitations
25based on the report under par. (a).
SB547,9,4
1(d) The department of administration shall provide public notice of its
2preliminary decisions under par. (c) no later than the 60th day after preparing the
3report under par. (a) and shall provide the opportunity for public comment on the
4decisions for at least 30 days following the public notice.
SB547,9,75 (e) The department of administration shall consider any public comments in
6making its final decisions under par. (c) and shall make the final decisions no later
7than the 30th day after the end of the public comment period.
SB547,9,108 (f) The department of administration shall send a notice that describes its final
9decisions under par. (c) to the legislative reference bureau for publication in the
10administrative register.
SB547,9,18 11(4) Availability of variance. (a) When a determination under sub. (2) (a) that
12attaining the water quality standard for phosphorus through compliance with water
13quality based effluent limitations by point sources that cannot achieve compliance
14without major facility upgrades is not feasible is in effect, a permittee is eligible for
15a variance to the water quality standard for phosphorus for an existing source if the
16permittee certifies that the existing source cannot achieve compliance with the water
17quality based effluent limitation for phosphorus without a major facility upgrade
18and agrees to comply with the requirements under sub. (6).
SB547,9,2019 (b) A permittee may apply for the variance under this section in any of the
20following ways:
SB547,9,2121 1. By requesting the variance in the application for reissuance of the permit.
SB547,9,2422 2. By requesting the variance within 60 days after the department reissues or
23modifies the permit to include a water quality based effluent limitation for
24phosphorus.
SB547,10,3
13. If the department issued a permit to the permittee before the effective date
2of this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], that includes a water quality based effluent
3limitation for phosphorus, by requesting a modification of the permit.
SB547,10,84 4. If the department issued a permit to the permittee before the effective date
5of this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], that includes a water quality based effluent
6limitation for phosphorus and that requires the permittee to submit to the
7department options for complying with the water quality based effluent limitation,
8by submitting a request for the variance as a compliance option.
SB547,10,149 (c) After an application for a variance is submitted to the department under par.
10(b) 2., 3., or 4., and until the last day for seeking review of the department's final
11decision on the application or a later date fixed by order of the reviewing court, the
12water quality based effluent limitation for phosphorus and any corresponding
13compliance schedule are not effective. All other provisions of the permit continue in
14effect except those for which a petition for review has been submitted under s. 283.63.
SB547,10,1615 (d) The variance under this section remains in effect for a point source until the
16permit is reissued, modified, or revoked and reissued.
SB547,10,1817 (e) Notwithstanding s. 227.42, there is no right to a hearing under this
18subsection.
SB547,10,2219 (f) If the department approves a variance under this section and the
20department issues a modified water quality based effluent limitation under s. 283.63
21for phosphorus, the permittee shall comply with the least stringent of the 2 effluent
22limitations.
SB547,10,25 23(6) Variance provisions. (a) Except as provided in par. (am) or sub. (7), the
24department shall include the following interim limits in the permit for a point source
25for which the department approves the variance under this section:
SB547,11,4
11. In the first permit for which the department approves the variance, a
2requirement to achieve, by the end of the term of that permit, compliance with an
3effluent limitation for phosphorus equal to 0.8 milligrams per liter as a monthly
4average.
SB547,11,85 2. In the 2nd permit for which the department approves the variance, a
6requirement to achieve, by the end of the term of that permit, compliance with an
7effluent limitation for phosphorus equal to 0.6 milligrams per liter as a monthly
8average.
SB547,11,129 3. In the 3rd permit for which the department includes the variance, a
10requirement to achieve, by the end of the term of that permit, compliance with an
11effluent limitation for phosphorus equal to 0.5 milligrams per liter as a monthly
12average.
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