Groundwater Planning

The Center for Land Use Education in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey provides the following resources to assist communities interested in community groundwater planning and implementation:

• Evaluation of comprehensive plans adopted by Wisconsin communities to understand the extent of groundwater coverage and efforts to protect and manage groundwater in comprehensive plans. Our plan review consisted of:
  • A preliminary review where we broadly examined how groundwater was being covered in each of the nine comprehensive planning elements.
  • A detailed review where we selected a small number of plans based on the preliminary results to analyze the types of data, policies, and goals included in them.
     
• Five case studies documenting exemplary efforts by rural Wisconsin communities to protect or remediate groundwater.
  • Municipal well remediation and water conservation: City of Waupaca
  •  Groundwater education about water quality of private wells and associated policy development: Iowa County and towns therein
  • Payments to farmers to grow low nitrogen input crops near municipal well: City of Waupaca
  • Municipal well remediation and wellhead protection ordinance: City of Chippewa Falls and Chippewa County
  • Groundwater study included in comprehensive plan and groundwater ordinance addressing future development adopted: Town of Richfield, Washington County