Home > Blog > Buildings & Campus > SRBC Registration of Grandfathered Water Uses

SRBC Registration of Grandfathered Water Uses

Posted by Mary Peters on Monday, November 27, 2017

SRBC Grandfathered Water Use Registration Program

More than 1,300 facilities received a notice this month from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), outlining their new program to register unapproved water withdrawals and consumptive water uses in the basin. There may be more than 700 older, unpermitted facilities whose usage could equal the current known basin water usage. For future management and planning, the SRBC is asking facilities within the SRBC that meet certain criteria to register their facilities, so they can close this knowledge gap.

who’s affected?

Older, unpermitted facilities, AKA grandfathered facilities, whose water withdrawals or consumptive uses equal or exceed the regulatory thresholds and began operating before the applicable regulations became effective. More specifically, if you:

have a groundwater withdrawal = 100,000 gallons per day, initiated before July 13, 1978;
have a surface water withdrawal = 100,000 gallons per day, initiated before November 11, 1995;
consume = 20,000 gallons per day from surface water, groundwater, a combination thereof, or any other source (including a public water supply), initiated before January 23, 1971;
or if you already have an SRBC docket for some, but not all, of your sources, the SRBC is requesting that you register the remaining grandfathered sources.

what are the registration deadlines and fees?

Affected facilities must register between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019. There are financial incentives to register early, including no fees until June 30, 2018.

Period	Fee
1/1/18 - 6/30/18	no fee
7/1/18 - 12/31/18	$500
1/1/19 - 12/31/19	$1,000

what if I don't register?

Facilities that meet one or more of the criteria above, but do not register by the December 31, 2019 deadline, will lose their grandfathering status, and be required to permit all of their water sources.

what information will be required?

According to SRBC’s Grandfathered Water Use Registration fact sheet, to register you’ll need the following information:

basic information about the facility and its water sources;
the method of tracking or metering quantities of water used;
and withdrawal and/or consumptive water use quantity data.

how do I register?

The SRBC is still finalizing the registration process, but they indicate that it will be simple, and something facilities can do on their own. See their website for the most up-to-date information.