455B.265  Permits for diversion, storage, and withdrawal.

1.  In its consideration of applications for permits, the department shall give priority in processing to persons in the order that the applications are received, except where the application of this processing priority system prevents the prompt approval of routine applications or where the public health, safety, or welfare will be threatened by delay. If the department determines after investigation that the diversion, storage, or withdrawal is consistent with the principles and policies of beneficial use and ensuring conservation, the department shall grant a permit. An application for a permit shall be approved or denied within ninety days from the date that the department receives the application. A renewal permit shall be approved or denied by the department within thirty days from the date that the department receives an application for renewal. Regardless of the request in the application, the director or the department on appeal may determine the duration and frequency of withdrawal and the quantity of water to be diverted, stored, or withdrawn pursuant to the permit. Each permit granted after July 1, 1986, shall include conditions requiring routine conservation practices, and requiring implementation of emergency conservation measures after notification by the department.

2.  If an application is received by July 1, 1986, the department shall grant a permit for the continuation of a beneficial use of water that was a nonregulated use prior to July 1, 1985, and now requires a permit pursuant to section 455B.268. However, the permit is subject to conditions requiring routine and emergency conservation measures and to modification or cancellation under section 455B.271. Applications received after July 1, 1986 for those uses shall be determined pursuant to subsection 1.

3.  Permits shall be granted for a period of ten years; however, permits for withdrawal of water may be granted for less than ten years if geological data on the capacity of the aquifer and the rate of its recharge are indeterminate, and permits for the storage of water may be granted for the life of the structure unless revoked by the department. A permit granted shall remain as an appurtenance of the land described in the permit through the date specified in the permit and any extension of the permit or until an earlier date when the permit or its extension is canceled under section 455B.271. Upon application for a permit prior to the termination date specified in the permit, a permit may be renewed by the department for a period of ten years.

4.  Permits for aquifer storage and recovery shall be granted for a period of twenty years or the life of the project, whichever is less, unless revoked by the department. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A relating to information an applicant for a permit shall submit to the department. At a minimum, the information shall include engineering, investigation, and evaluation information requisite to assure protection of the groundwater resource, and assurances that an aquifer storage and recovery site shall not unreasonably restrict other uses of the aquifer. Upon application and prior to the termination date specified in the original permit or a subsequent renewal permit, a renewal permit may be issued by the department for an additional period of twenty years. The department shall not authorize withdrawals of treated water from an aquifer storage and recovery site by anyone other than the permittee during the period of the original permit and each subsequent renewal permit. Treated water injected into an aquifer covered by a permit issued pursuant to this subsection is the property of the permittee.

Section History: Early form

  [C58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 455A.20; 82 Acts, ch 1199, § 19, 96]

Section History: Recent form

  C83, § 455B.265

  83 Acts, ch 137, § 12; 85 Acts, ch 7, §5; 86 Acts, ch 1245, § 1899A, 1899B; 90 Acts, ch 1094, § 1; 98 Acts, ch 1043, §3

Internal References

  Referred to in § 455B.271, 455B.281


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