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Show Wisconsin 797 resources board, consisting of seven members appointed by the Gov- ernor. The administrative officer of the department is the secretary. The division of environmental protection within the department is the principal water regulatory agency in the State. The division administers the various State water laws, including, for example, water quality control (see section 2.3, infra.) ; agricultural or irri- gation permits, permits for the diversion of water to maintain levels of navigable streams and lakes, and the taconite permits (see section 3.1 and 3.2, infra) ; and the high-capacity well law (see section 4, infra.). 2.2 Resolution of Water Use Conflicts The courts are the primary arbiters of water use conflicts in Wis- consin, particularly where the dispute is a private one between ripar- ian claimants. However, it should be noted that there is some ad- ministrative determination of water use rights, especially under water permits, although this extends-at least incidentally-to ripar- ian rights of water use. Particularly, the department of natural resources is directed by statute to resolve potential water use conflicts to protect the "public interest" in administering water quality controls, as discussed in sec- tion 2.3.a, infra; the department also reviews annually all agricul- tural and irrigation permits issued after August 1, 1957, and is authorized to revoke any of such permits that are found to be "detri- mental" to riparian owners, as discussed in section 3.1.b(l), infra; the department may also revoke taconite water use permits for a violation of any condition of the permit or of any provision of the controlling statute, as discussed in section 3.2.c, infra; and the de- partment further makes a general determination of the "surplus"1 water available for use under permits, as explained in section 3.2.b, infra. These powers and procedures do not seem to vest the department with any adjudication authority comparable to that which is com- mon in many appropriation States, but they do bear on water use conflicts to some extent, and so at this juncture they are simply cross- referenced to other parts of this chapter where they are discussed in some detail. 2.3 Other Agencies Having Water Resource Responsibilities A. WATER QUALITY CONTROL Effective February 15, 1970, the responsibility for the administra- tion of the State's water pollution control program was transferred to the department of natural resources.10 Under the present act,11 the department's program extends to "all waters of the State, ground and surface, public and private." 12 The preamble recites that the 10 For a discussion of the pollution control program prior to this time, see D. Car- michael, Forty Years of Water Pollution Control in Wisconsin: A Case Study, 1967 Wis. L. Rev. 350. C. Krueger and M. Quinn, New Directions in Water Quality Manage- ment: A Proposal for Wisconsin, 6 Line. L. Rev. 51 (1970) comment on the present act and suggest some new approaches to the State's pollution problem. uWis. Stat. Ann. sec. 144.025 (West 1964 and supps. through 1972). For con- venience, the statutes will be referred to hereafter simply by section numbers. 12 Sec. 144.03. See J. Kusler, Water Quality Protection for Inland Lakes in Wiscon sin: A Comprehensive Approach to Water Pollution, 1970 Wis. L. Rev. 35 and P. Davis, Theories of Water Pollution Litigation, 1967 Wis. L. Rev. 738-816. |
