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Water withdrawal registration modification

Saginaw Bay coastal wetland
Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy

Water withdrawal registration modification

You must notify EGLE if your Large Quantity Withdrawal is installed or put into operation differently than authorized either by the Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool or by a site-specific review.

These differences can include any or all of the following:

  • Changing from a direct surface water withdrawal to groundwater or vice versa.
  • Changing the location of the withdrawal.
  • Changing the top of well screen depth (for a well in a glacial aquifer) or the bottom of the well casing depth (for an open borehole bedrock well) for a groundwater withdrawal.
  • Changing from a bedrock well to a glacial well or vice versa.
  • Changing the rated pump capacity for the withdrawal.
  • Changing the pumping schedule for the withdrawal.

Changing any of the conditions of an authorized Large Quantity Withdrawal may affect whether the authorization is still valid.

What to do if your Large Quantity Withdrawal has changed since authorized

If the original Large Quantity Withdrawal was authorized by the Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool or by a site-specific review, the property owner must:

  1. Rerun the Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool using revised information for the withdrawal, and
  2. Notify EGLE of the revisions and the corrected results 
Changes to your Large Quantity Withdrawal and possible enforcement actions

Registrations require pumps and wells to be installed as authorized.  Changes to the planned well installation require additional authorization by the water use program.  Failure to run the revised withdrawal information through the Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool and notify EGLE of the results or to obtain a new site-specific review authorization is a violation of Part 327 of the NREPA.

The enforcement can include the following:

  • Requesting that the Department of Attorney General commence a civil action for appropriate relief, including a permanent or temporary injunction; and/or
  • A civil fine of not more than $10,000 per day of violation for a person who knowingly violates the ARI prohibition in Section 32721; or
  • A civil fine of not more than $1,000 for all other violations of Part 327 of the NREPA; and
  • The Department of Attorney General may file a suit to recover the full costs of surveillance and enforcement by the State of Michigan resulting from the violation(s).

Contact the groundwater program

For help revising an existing withdrawal, contact Juneal Black with the Groundwater and Geological Services Section at 517-930-1071 or BlackJ20@Michigan.gov.