Indiana clients with facilities in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin that have the capacity to withdraw 100,000 gallons of water per day are required to be registered with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) under existing law. This requirement affects many manufacturing, agricultural, educational, healthcare, business and political subdivisions primarily in Northwest and Northeast Indiana. (A list of affected counties is shown below.) While many clients registered years ago, an annual report is required. It has come to our attention that some facilities may have let that registration lapse for various reasons over the years.
 
Now there is an additional reason for ensuring that your facility is registered: Baseline water withdrawals will be used to exempt users from new permitting requirements of the Great Lakes Compact, which goes into effect on December 8, 2008. The rules for establishing baseline water usage for purposes of "grandfathering" facilities have not yet been written, but the prudent approach is to have your registration on file before the effective date of the law. Other Great Lakes jurisdictions, competitors for water allocation or disgruntled neighbors could use lack of timely registration as an argument in challenges to a facility's permit applications.
 
To register your water usage capacity, go to: http://www.in.gov/icpr/webfile/formsdiv/20094.pdf. If you have questions, contact Dan McInerny by phone at 317-684-5102 or by email at dmcinerny@boselaw.com or contact Alex Intermill, 317-684-5302 or aintermill@boselaw.com. Dan or Alex will be glad to answer your questions and assist you with this requirement.
 

The following Indiana counties are within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin: Lake, Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, DeKalb, Allen, Wells and Adams.