 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Protecting Drinking Water in Vulnerable Landscapes The Senate Committee on the Environment will hold a public hearing on SB 632 on Tuesday, March 23, 10:00 a.m. in the State Capitol, Room 300 SE. Please plan to attend to provide your testimony or to register in favor of the legislation. RSVP to Jamie Saul at jsaul@midwestadvocates.org. And if you can’t make it in person, please call your legislators and urge them to co-sponsor Senator Hansen’s bill! Critical legislation to protect clean drinking water - SB 632 Senator Dave Hansen of Green Bay has introduced SB 632, a bill to protect clean drinking water from pollution caused by land-spreading of wastes in so-called “karst” areas. Parts of the state – most notably Northeastern Wisconsin – have suffered widespread well contamination for years because of the careless land disposal of waste on fields that are unable to slow or filter dangerous pollutants and keep groundwater clean and safe for human use. This is critically important legislation for rural families, businesses, and farms that depend on groundwater aquifers as their primary source of drinking water. The legislation would protect public health by requiring DNR to regulate the land disposal of waste in areas identified as the most vulnerable to groundwater contamination.
They call it “brown water” – the murky, foul-smelling water that flows from the tap of too many Wisconsin residents each spring, laden with bacteria, nitrate, or other contaminants far in excess of state groundwater and drinking water standards. And it’s been happening for years. Throughout much of Wisconsin, families, businesses, and farms depend on private wells and an unpolluted aquifer for access to clean and safe drinking water. But in rural communities in Northeastern Wisconsin, citizens are denied the basic human right of clean water each year because of careless land-spreading of wastes such as animal manure, industrial waste, municipal sludge, and septage. In towns such as Morrison, Luxemburg, Cooperstown, and Byron, citizens have been forced to drink bottled water as levels of nitrate and bacteria in their well water reach dangerous concentrations. What we do on the surface of the land can have a direct impact on the groundwater below, especially in the areas like Northeastern Wisconsin that have a high “karst” potential. In these areas, the shallow soils and highly erodible, fractured bedrock have a tendency to create cracks, sinkholes, and other direct conduits from the land surface to the groundwater aquifer below. When wastes are land applied in these areas, dangerous or toxic pollutants can easily move down into the aquifer, carried by rainwater or snowmelt and the simple pull of gravity. The risk of groundwater contamination can be severe. Despite the hundreds of private wells that have become contaminated over the years from Fond du Lac to Door County, and the release of a UW Extension Report in 2007 (the “Final Report of the Northeast Wisconsin Karst Task Force”) calling for changes to land disposal practices, little has changed. Powerful agribusiness interests have derailed regulatory efforts, and an under-funded DNR has struggled to address such a broad problem with limited resources. MEA has been working with our colleagues at Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association, Sierra Club, and professional county conservation staff in Northeastern Wisconsin to promote legislation to protect groundwater aquifers in karst regions. Senator Dave Hansen has taken the lead and plans to introduce a bill that will protect clean drinking water in a way that is fair to Wisconsin farms and businesses; faithful to the recommendations of the Northeast Wisconsin Karst Task Force; and recognizes the grave threats to public health posed by groundwater contamination. For more information, see the following websites: Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters: Conservation Priority: Protect Wisconsin’s Drinking Water UW Extension: Final Report of the NE Wisconsin Karst Task Force NY Times 9/17/09 Article: Health Ills About as Farm Runoff Fouls Wells
|
|
Resources |
Protect Wisconsin’s Drinking Water Final Report of the Northeastern Wisconsin Karst Task Force, |
||
|
||
