Local officials want to reassure residents about their drinking water, even amid questions about health risks and who will pay to clean up the contamination.
Tag: water quality
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.
Posted inFailure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Lead poisoning would trigger tap water test under proposal
Two Democratic lawmakers want the state Department of Health Services to investigate drinking water as a possible source when children are lead poisoned. The proposal also greatly lowers the blood lead levels that would trigger an investigation.
Posted inFailure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
First in the nation: City of Madison replaced all lead pipes
The Madison Water Utility was the first major utility in the nation to demonstrate that a full replacement of both the public and the private portions of lead service lines was possible.
Posted inFailure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Lead pipes, antiquated law threaten Wisconsin’s drinking water quality
Experts, and even some regulators, say existing laws are failing to protect Wisconsin and the nation from harmful exposure to lead in drinking water that leaches from aging plumbing — a danger illustrated by the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Despite state efforts, arsenic continues to poison many private wells in Wisconsin
An ancient poison that was detected in the late 1980s in Wisconsin’s drinking water persists despite state regulations designed to eliminate it. High-capacity wells can exacerbate the problem.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Costs, water pollution remain at closed Badger Army Ammunition Plant
Decades of toxic waste disposal at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant — including pouring millions of gallons a day of polluted water into Lake Wisconsin — have contaminated some nearby residents’ drinking water and raised concerns about the long-term effects on their health. But help may be on the way.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Cost of most drinking water pollution borne by consumers
Agriculture creates most of the nitrate pollution, but consumers pay most of the cost, whether they drink from public wells or private ones.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
What is nitrate?
Nitrate is a compound naturally found in plants and in vegetables and can be found in groundwater, depending on how much fertilizer and manure is applied to fields.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Going organic: One farmer’s fight against contaminants in the groundwater
In the early 1990s, Jim Goodman and his wife began to worry about how the chemicals they were using on the farm might affect their children. The fourth-generation Wisconsin farmer decided to make the shift away from conventional farming at his Sauk County operation. Now certified organic, the farm includes 120 head of cattle on pasture, including 45 milk cows, and 300 acres of crops.
Posted inEnvironment, Failure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Nitrate in water widespread, current rules no match for it
Levels of nitrate, one of the Wisconsin’s top drinking water contaminants, are increasing. Nitrate comes primarily from fertilizers, including manure, and puts infants and expectant mothers particularly at risk. A projected 94,000 households are drinking private well water with unsafe levels of nitrate. And many of them don’t even know it since few private well owners conduct regular testing.