ENTRICAN, Mich. — Mike Rasmussen has never considered his farm to be a large-capacity user of water.

After all, he’s a dairy farmer, not a cash crop grower who irrigates cropland throughout the summer. His biggest use is to provide fresh water to his 600-head dairy herd and to operate the milking parlor on the Day Township farm he owns and operates with his father, Chris.

But, under new Michigan water use regulations, Rasmussen and others like him must report their 2006 water use by April 1 to protect their future.

“We have two wells on our farm,” Rasmussen said, which puts his operation within the reporting guidelines.

Rasmussen was one of about 30 farmers who attended an informational meeting Feb. 27 at the Douglass Township Hall in Entrican to learn about the new water reporting guidelines.

Lyndon Kelley, Michigan State University Water Quality agent, said the reporting is based on a 30-day average of a farm’s 2006 pumping capacity. He cautioned the participants to be accurate in reporting their baseline capacity by the April 1 deadline or they could lose their ability to pump water. The report must be filed with the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

The farm’s baseline capacity is the capacity of the pumps, not what is typically pumped.

Under the legislation, “no one may make a new or increased large quantity withdrawal that causes any negative resources impact,” he said.

“Basically this is a form of grandfathering. If you have a well, the legal system is going to assume that you have no adverse impact” on the water source, he said. “This is an opportunity for you to protect your water usage for the future.”

Who must report

The regulation defines a large-scale water user as any user that has a capacity to withdraw 70 gallons of water per minute. This withdrawal could be by one pump or more and includes both surface and groundwater. Agricultural uses may include irrigation of any crop, water for livestock, cooling or wash water. More specifically, uses may be for watering beef cattle and calves, dairy cattle and calves, chickens, turkeys, swine, sheep, fruit crop cooling, aquaculture, equipment washing, building sanitation, crop washing, greenhouse crops, field nursery crops, container nursery crops and other uses.

What if the report isn’t filed?

For water users who don’t report this year, their baseline capacity will be the highest annual water usage that they reported from 2002 to 2005. If no report has ever been filed, their baseline capacity will be zero. That means that any future water withdrawals will be considered a new withdrawal and must meet guidelines set forth under Public Act 148 of 2003, now Part 327 of P.A. 451 of 1994, the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. Among those guidelines, large-scale water users will be required to prove that their water withdrawal is not causing any negative resources impact.

The legislation directs the Ground-water Conservation Advisory Council to design a water withdrawal assessment tool. Once developed, the tool is to be used by the person proposing a new or increased large-scale withdrawal to determine if the proposed withdrawal would cause an adverse impact to the state’s waters, or its water-dependent natural resources.

“If you don’t report, you will automatically fall into the new category,” Kelley said.

The legislation calls for a maximum civil fine of $5,000 per day for a known violation.

About the legislation

Public Act 148 established statewide groundwater mapping and water use reporting. This law created a groundwater resource map of the state and established a groundwater advisory committee to direct groundwater protection efforts in the future. MDA will assemble township-based reports annually and send them to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Visit the website www.gwmap.rsgis.msu.edu for more information.

Public Act 177 calls for the state to investigate complaints from small well owners against large well owners.

Part 327 of P.A. 451 of 1994 calls for no adverse impact as the standard that all large-capacity water users must meet.

Forms and information regarding the method of estimating water use are available at http://web1.msue.msu. edu/stjoseph/anr/irrigat.htm