Wisconsin Code § 281.47

Sewage drains; sewage discharge into certain lakes
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(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.

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