Maine Revised Statutes Title 38. Waters and Navigation § 470-D. Filing of reports by users; aggregation of data

Unless exempted under section 470-C, a person withdrawing more than the threshold volume of water established in this article must file an annual water withdrawal report on December 1, 2003 and on every December 1st thereafter as provided in this section.

Water withdrawal reports must be submitted to either the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry or the Commissioner of Health and Human Services in a form or manner prescribed by that commissioner. No later than January 1, 2003, those commissioners shall jointly publish a list indicating which classes of users are to report to which department. The form and manner of reporting must be determined by each commissioner except that the required information must be collected from each user above the threshold and in a manner that allows that data to be combined with data collected by the other commissioners. The reports must include information on actual and anticipated water use, the identification of the water source, the location of the withdrawal including the distance of each groundwater withdrawal from the nearest surface water source, the volume of the withdrawals that might be reasonably anticipated under maximum high-demand conditions and the number of days those withdrawals may occur each month and the location and volume of each point of discharge. The reporting may allow volumes to be reported in ranges established by the commissioners and reported volumes may be calculated estimates of volumes. The board, the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the Department of Health and Human Services may adopt routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A as necessary to implement the reporting provisions of this article.

Individual water withdrawal reports filed under this article are confidential and are not public records as defined in Title 1, section 402, subsection 3.