WATER WITHDRAWAL                                                                          H.B. 5638 (H-5):

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                      REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 5638 (Substitute H-5 as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Aaron Miller

House Committee:  Natural Resources

Senate Committee:  Natural Resources

CONTENT

The bill would amend Part 327 (Great Lakes Preservation) of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to do the following:

-- Delete provisions that require or allow a property owner to submit a request for a site-specific review of a proposed water withdrawal to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

-- Allow a property owner to submit to the DEQ certain information and an analysis performed by a professional hydrologist or hydrogeologist, if the DEQ's assessment tool determined that a proposed withdrawal was a zone C or D withdrawal, or that a withdrawal with a capacity of 1.0 million gallons or less per day to supply a common distribution system was a zone B withdrawal in a cold-transitional river system.

-- Require the DEQ to notify the property owner of its determination within 20 working days after receiving the analysis of the proposed withdrawal, supporting evidence, and related data.

-- Allow the property owner to register the withdrawal and proceed with it if the DEQ determined that the withdrawal was a zone A or zone B withdrawal.

-- Allow the property owner to register and proceed with a zone C withdrawal if the owner self-certified the implementation of certain water conservation measures.

-- Provide that the property owner could not register or make a zone D withdrawal unless the owner applied for a permit under Part 327 and the withdrawal was authorized, or unless it was authorized under a site-specific review.

-- Specify peer-reviewed models the DEQ could use to calculate streamflow depletion.

MCL 324.32706c                                                       Legislative Analyst:  Nathan Leaman

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.

Date Completed:  5-25-18                                                     Fiscal Analyst:  Josh Sefton

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.