LETTER: Chemicals, lead, feces in our drinking water; state must act

To Ozaukee Press:

Wisconsin is blessed with an abundance of water resources, but they are in need of significantly greater oversight and protection. Drinking water contamination is a great public health risk for residents statewide. More than 1.7 million Wisconsinites depend on private wells for their water, and 47% of these wells do not meet health standards.

Lead is a serious problem in dozens of rural and urban communities. No amount of lead exposure is safe; it can cause permanent learning disabilities even in very small quantities. Testing of lead in water needs to continue in schools, daycares and in homes. Lead water service lines should be removed and replaced as expeditiously as possible, such as in Milwaukee where at least 70,000 households receive water by lead pipes.

Gov. Evers’ proposed budget includes a provision to allocate $40 million in bonding to help families and communities replace lead services lines. I urge support for this proposal.

According to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, every dollar spent removing lead pipes results in a 133% return in benefits due to higher lifetime earnings and better health. Surely, an investment in removal of lead water lines would be money well spent.

The evidence of nitrate pollution in wells is alarming. Over 40,000 wells in Wisconsin fail to meet the nitrate health standard. Nitrate is considered an acute contaminant and can cause blue-baby syndrome and other birth defects and thyroid and colorectal cancer in adults.   

Coliform bacteria and E. coli, indicators of disease causing parasites, are also widespread in drinking water. More than 60% of wells in Kewaunee County have tested positive for fecal matter. Recent research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that the contamination mostly comes from agriculture, not human waste.  

The Evers budget includes a number of measures to help ensure that families can access safe drinking water, including increased well compensation funding to drill new wells, money to help farmers implement conservation practices to reduce nitrate pollution from farm fields and a modest raise of permit fees for large livestock farms.

The permit fees would support new positions at the DNR to oversee the risk of water contamination from the enormous volumes of manure produced and handled at these farms. These measures should be supported.

Industrial chemicals common in non-stick cookware, food wrappers and firefighting foam have been detected in many Wisconsin wells. These chemicals have been linked to cancer in adults and stunted development in children. They do not break down in the environment and are extremely difficult to remediate.

A number of other states have already set standards for these contaminants. The governor’s budget includes provisions for two DNR positions to address this threat, which should be supported.

Adopting the proposals in the governor’s budget should be the beginning of bipartisan efforts to tackle Wisconsin’s numerous and serious water quality challenges.

The problems are large-scale and require large- scale solutions.

Clean water is necessary for the health and well-being of all Wisconsinites. Protecting public health, supporting sustainable farming practices and protecting Wisconsin tourism and water recreation all present powerful reasons to support these initiatives.
 

Lynde B. Uihlein
Town of Port Washington
The letter writer is president of the Brico Fund dedicated to “sustainably improve the civic, cultural and natural environments.”