Sewage drains; sewage discharge into certain lakes

Wis. Stat. § 281.47
in effect
Sign in to generate a plain English summaryAsk Belisarius Agent
(1) (a) When any city, village, town or owner has constructed or constructs a sewage system complying with s. 281.41, the outflow or effluent from such system may be discharged into any stream or drain constructed pursuant to law, but no such outflow of untreated sewage or effluent from a primary or secondary treatment plant from a city, village, town, town sanitary district or metropolitan sewage district in a county having a population of 240,000 or more, according to the latest U.S. bureau of census figures available including any special census of municipalities within the county, any part of which is located within a drainage basin which drains into a lake of more than 2 square miles and less than 16 square miles in area, shall be discharged directly into, or through any stream, or through any drain, into such a lake located within 18 miles of the system or plant of such city, village, town, town sanitary district or metropolitan sewage district. All necessary construction of plant, system or drains for full compliance with this subsection in the discharge of untreated sewage or sewage effluent from all existing primary or secondary plants shall be completed by September 1, 1970, and the plans for any new system or plant shall include provisions for compliance with this subsection. The department may at any time order and require any owner of an existing plant to prepare and file with it, within a prescribed time, preliminary or final plans or both, for proposed construction to comply with this subsection. (b) Any municipality, which, on April 30, 1972, has an operating sewerage collection and treatment system and has an application for attachment to a metropolitan sewerage district pending in the county court, in such a county, any part of which is located within such a drainage basin and which is located within 10 miles of a metropolitan sewerage district on September 1, 1967, shall be added to the metropolitan sewerage district upon application of the governing body of the municipality as provided in s. 66.205 (1), 1969 stats., if such petitioning municipality pays its fair share of the cost of attachment as determined by mutual agreement or a court of competent jurisdiction. (c) 1. Except as provided in subd. 2., in lieu of construction in compliance with par. (a) for diversion from lakes described in par. (a), any owner of an existing plant, on or before September 1, 1967, or any owner of a new system or plant prior to construction of the new system or plant, may file with the department plans for advanced treatment of effluent from primary or secondary treatment that in the judgment of the department will accomplish substantially the same results in eliminating nuisance conditions on a lake described in par. (a) as would be accomplished by diversion of secondary sewage effluent from the lake, without at the same time creating other objectionable or damaging results. The owner of the plant or system is exempt from par. (a) for diversion from the lakes described in par. (a) upon approval of the plans submitted under this paragraph and installation of advanced treatment facilities and procedures in compliance therewith. 2. Nothing in subd. 1. impairs the authority of the department to require at any time preliminary or final plans, or both, for diversion construction. (d) Any person violating this subsection or any order issued in furtherance of compliance therewith shall forfeit to the state not less than $100 nor more than $500 for each violation, failure or refusal. Each day of continued violation is deemed a separate offense. No such penalty shall be invoked during the time that any petition for review of an order is pending under s. 281.19 (8) until final disposition thereof by the courts, if judicial review is sought under ch. 227. (2) The city, village or town or the owner of land through which the drain is constructed may apply to the circuit court of the county in which the land is located to determine the damages, if any. No injunction against the use shall be granted until the damages are finally determined and payment refused. Unless within 6 months after the system is completed the owner of the land institutes such proceedings the owner is barred. The proceedings shall be according to ch. 32, so far as applicable.
Source: WI Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/281.47Fetched: 10/7/2026