SF 1738

1st Engrossment - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to waters; modifying water use permit 
  1.3             provisions; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 
  1.4             103G.271, subdivision 5. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 103G.271, 
  1.7   subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  1.8      Subd. 5.  [PROHIBITION ON ONCE-THROUGH WATER USE PERMITS.] 
  1.9   (a) Except as provided in paragraph (c), the commissioner may 
  1.10  not, after December 31, 1990, issue a water use permit to 
  1.11  increase the volume of appropriation from a groundwater source 
  1.12  for a once-through cooling system using in excess of 5,000,000 
  1.13  gallons annually. 
  1.14     (b) Except as provided in paragraph (c), once-through 
  1.15  system water use permits using in excess of 5,000,000 gallons 
  1.16  annually, must be terminated by the commissioner by the end of 
  1.17  their design life but not later than December 31, 2010, unless 
  1.18  the discharge is into a public water basin within a nature 
  1.19  preserve approved by the commissioner and established prior to 
  1.20  January 1, 2001.  Existing once-through systems must not be 
  1.21  expanded and are required to convert to water efficient 
  1.22  alternatives within the design life of existing equipment.  
  1.23     (c) The commissioner may issue once-through system water 
  1.24  use permits for aquifer storage and recovery systems that return 
  1.25  all once-through system water to the source aquifer.  Water use 
  2.1   permit processing fees in subdivision 6, paragraph (a), apply to 
  2.2   all water withdrawals under this paragraph, including any reuse 
  2.3   of water returned to the source aquifer.