By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — One wouldn’t think water conflicts would be any sort of problem in a place like Michigan, where fresh water is arguably as abundant as any place on Earth.

Such conflicts are now happening, however, thanks to a mandate stemming from the Great Lakes Water Compact. An eight-state agreement signed into law in 2008, it mandates an intensive water management regimen by all who signed on. As a result, Michigan started its own water use program to comply with the compact’s management protocols.

At the center of the program is a water withdrawal assessment process. It uses a water withdrawal assessment tool (WWAT), a piece of computer software that businesspeople, including farmers, are now required to use if they want to withdraw a certain volume of water from a new well.

Both the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have responsibilities to oversee and enforce the process, but DEQ seems to enforce the program on the ground. At a recent meeting of the Michigan Agriculture Commission, several businesspeople that use or deal with the program spoke out about how problematic the water withdrawal approval process is.

For example Bob Mayer, owner of Great Lakes Glads in Branch County, testified about a number of problems he’s had. The water use tool presents a considerable challenge, he explained, because land is rotated and landlords are constantly swapping land for which watering needs vary considerably.

Because of this, growers are forced to try to determine who can use how much water for their crops on that year’s location.

“Questions of usage abound and no one has explained to them as farmers how to obtain WWAT information for rented land, or if land is to be purchased, how potential water use can be determined,” Mayer said.

He went on to explain he received notice from DEQ at one point that his neighbor was getting a permit for a 900-gallon-per-minute capacity well for June, July and August. When he used the tool to determine well potential on his land, which is less than a quarter-mile away, he was denied each and every time. He was told a site specific review was required.

“It appears farmer will be pitted against farmer, because it sounds like those first in will have riparian rights,” Mayer said.

He also testified that two years ago he needed to drill a well on a piece of rented property and ended up having three wells drilled in different locations. He said he paid for the three wells, but later received permission from DEQ to draw water from the first location.

“Having to follow what is seen on a computer in Lansing when there are well experts in the field is extremely frustrating,” Mayer said.

Tim Brian of Smeltzer Orchards and Dan Ganger of Maisco, Inc. also testified in front of the commission about their experiences with WWAT. Ganger was especially blunt.

Ganger, who is president of a Middlebury, Ind., center pivot irrigation system dealership that also serves southwestern Michigan, has no knowledge of irrigation systems causing any water usage conflicts in that part of the state. But he does have a problem with the WWAT.

“When we experience our next drought in southwest Michigan, pandemonium will result because of the unreasonable WWAT and the state of Michigan’s inability to change to a reasonable solution,” he said.

Last week he and Todd Feenstra, a hydrogeologist who’s active in the Michiana Irrigation Assoc., were in Lansing to talk with DEQ Director Dan Wyant about these issues. Ganger was unwilling to elaborate on the discussions.

Another group, the Michigan Groundwater Assoc. (MGA), also has problems with the water withdrawal process. It is quoted at the end of a 200-page Water Use Advisory Council report saying the process is so flawed that the state legislature should replace the program altogether, with one that is “based on sound groundwater industry-standard science.”

But because of the compact, the MGA might have a difficult time getting what it wants. Although the MGA’s view as expressed in the report was a dissenting opinion, the majority opinion was several changes need to be made to the WWAT. Wyant created the Water Use Advisory Council in 2012 to help DEQ make decisions about the state’s water use.

“Most of the recommendations from the Council were pretty overwhelmingly adopted,” said Jon Allan, director of the Office of the Great Lakes, an agency within the DEQ. He added there was a significant amount of input on those recommendations from agriculture, including Michigan Farm Bureau and others.

He said WWAT “just needs to get better. It does a really good job as a screening tool. The vast majority of registrations have gone through without any problem. I don’t think the tool is fatally flawed.”

He said the water use program needs to be continually evaluated, but that the DEQ has done a “pretty good job” managing it.