For the City Times

The Portage County Groundwater Citizens Advisory Committee (GCAC) will hold a public presentation on its preliminary draft of the update to the Portage County Groundwater Management Plan.

This document is meant to assess the current quality and quantity groundwater, identify the uses and users, discuss vulnerabilities to contamination and depletion, categorize the impacts and conflicts and consider potential impacts of changes in usage.

The plan also provides options and recommendations for mediating conflicts based on groundwater sustainability.

The draft plan will be presented at an open house format on Aug. 25 in Conference rooms 1 and 2 of the Portage County Annex Building, 1462 Strongs Ave. The open house will begin at 6:30 PM.

The public will be able to view the plan and provide comments and feedback.

At 7:00 PM a short presentation about the plan and how it was created will be given by Portage County Water Resource Specialist Jen McNelly. The presentation will be followed a question and answer period with members of GCAC.

“This meeting will be a great opportunity for the citizens of Portage County to sit down with the members of GCAC and learn about the Portage County Groundwater Management Plan,” McNelly said. “We are excited for the discussions that will take place.”

The draft Groundwater Management Plan can be found online at: http://www.co.portage.wi.us/planningzoning/new/current-projects/groundwater-update.html

Comments and feedback can be submitted to [email protected] using “Groundwater Management Plan” in the subject line.

Any feedback and comments will be collected throughout the months of August and September, compiled, and discussed by GCAC at their October meeting.