HB 473 Summary

• Establishes a permit program for withdrawal and consumptive use of water from the Lake Erie watershed, with threshold requirements of 2.5 million gallons per day for Lake Erie/navigation channels and 1 million gallons per day for other sources, with lower thresholds (100,000 gallons per day) for high-quality waters.

• Requires facility owners to obtain permits from the Chief of the Division of Soil and Water Resources before installing or operating new or increased water withdrawal capacity, with applications accompanied by $1,000 nonrefundable fees credited to the water management fund.

• Permits remain valid until facility abandonment occurs, with owners required to certify compliance every five years; permits may be transferred upon sale if location, water source, and capacity remain unchanged.

• Creates exemptions for facilities below threshold amounts, baseline facilities not exceeding historical capacity, public water systems meeting certain criteria, emergency/humanitarian uses, and facilities purchasing all water from public water systems.

• Authorizes the Chief to issue experimental use permits for innovative water technologies and establishes procedures for permit denial, suspension, or revocation through administrative orders with appeal rights to county courts of common pleas.