Eighteen communities in Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, plan to replace lead lines leading to schools and day care centers. View the areas of the state where the work is planned.
Category: Failure at the Faucet
Failure at the Faucet is a series exploring risks to drinking water across Wisconsin.
Posted inFailure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare
Wisconsin DNR fails to update lead testing guidance in wake of Flint crisis
Nine months after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned against flushing water systems before testing for lead, the state Department of Natural Resources has not yet passed that advice on to public water systems in Wisconsin.
Posted inFailure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare
‘Strict’ pesticide rules fail to erase threat to Wisconsin’s drinking water
A 2007 survey of private drinking water wells found 1 out of 3 had pesticides or their breakdown chemicals; farm groups oppose push for tougher atrazine rules.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare
Lead in drinking water: By the numbers
A look at some of the facts and figures behind lead in our drinking water
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare
Wisconsin must do more to protect residents from lead in drinking water, DNR and Milwaukee leaders agree
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett acknowledges adding anti-corrosive chemicals, the main strategy to prevent lead in drinking water, is a “Band-Aid” approach.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Money & Politics
Water woes emerge as major issue in Wisconsin elections
Residents concerned about contaminated wells and disappearing lakes are making water a major campaign issue for some Wisconsin candidates this fall.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare
Human waste pollutes some Wisconsin drinking water
Failing septic systems, leaking public sewer pipes and landspreading of septic waste can introduce dangerous pathogens into both rural and urban water systems. Experts say Wisconsin needs tougher laws to protect Wisconsin drinking water from contamination by sewage and septic waste.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare
Bacteria in state’s drinking water is ‘public health crisis’
Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents are at risk of illness from waterborne pathogens in private and public drinking water supplies. Contamination by pathogens is of special concern because unlike pollution by metals or chemicals, pathogens can sicken people after just a single exposure.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare
Wisconsin launches effort to replace aging lead pipes to safeguard water
The state Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday it will target low-income areas with $11.8 million in new grants to replace aging pipes made of lead that supply water to homes.
Posted inFailure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare, Justice & Safety
Water tainted with lead, copper at two Wisconsin state prisons
The water at Fox Lake and Waupun Correctional Institutions is tainted with lead and copper. Officials say they are complying with federal standards, but some inmates and staff question whether it is safe.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Wisconsin strontium levels among highest in U.S. drinking water supplies
Eastern Wisconsin has among the highest levels of the heavy metal strontium in drinking water. Limits may be on the way for this unregulated contaminant.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
As wells go deeper, radium levels rise in state tap water
As communities grow and pump more groundwater, radium from deep bedrock is contaminating dozens of water systems. The city of Waukesha wants to tap into Lake Michigan to solve its radium problem.