H833 becomes Act 173, Inter-Basin Transfers and public water withdrawals

As a result of a 2019 Public Hearing it was discovered that the State of Vermont lacked any knowledge of who was withdrawing water from the State's rivers, streams and brooks and how much of that water was being transferred from one water basin to another.

Alarmed by this lack of knowledge, a coalition of conservation minded groups, including your Greater Upper Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, forged ahead to sponsor legislation to address this critical knowledge gap. With the assistance of the Vermont Law School, House Bill 833 was presented to our Representatives and passed by the House in June, 2020 to establish a governmental study group charged with ascertaining the location and amount of water withdrawals, identify any inter-basin transfers of those waters and to recommend further legislative action deemed appropriate, In October, due to many COVID related delays, the Bill passed the Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Scott creating Act 173.

The designated Study Group consisting of environmentally related State Agencies, a member from each branch of the Legislature and several public conservation agencies (including a Trout Unlimited representative) will begin work in early 2021 and will submit their findings and recommendations to the Legislature by December, 2021.

Your support of this legislation was vital to its' success. Thank you.