Environment
As rains intensify, sewage surges into Wisconsin waters
|
Climate change is bringing heavier rains, making it tougher to keep untreated sewage and stormwater out of the Great Lakes.
Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center (https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/series/faucetfail/)
— 2013 state researchers’ study of rural well water
In Wisconsin, a state whose very name evokes lakes, rivers and abundant water, hundreds of thousands of people may consume drinking water tainted with at least one contaminant.
Climate change is bringing heavier rains, making it tougher to keep untreated sewage and stormwater out of the Great Lakes.
The latest findings from a study of drinking water wells and their surroundings finds manure from cows that is stored or spread on farm fields poses the highest risk for certain contaminants.
Tests show waste from Kewaunee County’s 97,000 head of cattle contaminates majority of wells, especially after rainfall or snowmelt; human waste also a factor.
The Society of Professional Journalists names ‘Failure at the Faucet’ the top investigative story among small independent news sites for 2016.
Funding for childhood lead poisoning prevention is down in Wisconsin, and proposals to better protect children from lead in drinking water have stalled in the Legislature.
The city of Milwaukee, with more than 70,000 lead service lines, has taken several steps in the past year to lower residents’ exposure to lead in drinking water, but activists say the city has not done enough.
Gaps in federal drinking water standards enforced by the state leave numerous school and day care sites untested for lead in drinking water; numerous lead service lines remain.
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.
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.
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.