State Report: Extreme Weather Could Affect Groundwater

The Capitol Report for the Week of Sept. 25, 2017

State report: Extreme weather could affect groundwater

By WisPolitics.com

The "effects of extreme weather" are among the emerging challenges highlighted in a recent report on the state's groundwater that was submitted to the Legislature.
The annual report, from the Department of Natural Resources' Groundwater Coordinating Council, also highlighted several other areas to keep an eye on, including the expansion of concentrated animal feeding operations and the "unprecedented growth" of frac sand mining in the west-central part of the state since 2010.
While the report didn't directly say "global warming" or "climate change" in its description of extreme weather, it noted groundwater quality and availability could be affected by prolonged drought or heat waves.
The report, from an eight-person council that includes representatives from five state agencies, the UW System, the governor's office and a state geologist, also outlined potential issues associated with groundwater and its availability, as well as a series of recommendations.
That includes encouraging more private well owners to test their wells regularly, a recommendation Amber Meyer Smith, vice president of Programs and Government Relations at Clean Wisconsin, said is "critically important."
"Over half a million drink from private wells in Wisconsin, and as this data shows us there's a lot of contaminants that pop up around the state," she said. "This data really shows where the presence of say nitrates are increasing, and nitrates can be a very devastating pollutant in the water."
Other recommendations also call for more monitoring and assessing of other viruses and pathogens in groundwater; supporting an inventory of information about the state groundwater to promote sustainable management; and continuing the research and cataloging of groundwater, among others.
Jodi Habush Sinykin, who advises and represents Midwest Environmental Advocates on certain topics, said while the report contains "valuable information" especially on groundwater declines, risk of viruses and fracking, the state lacks the "commitment and political will" to use it.
"It's not that we are missing information or monitoring or well reports or even tests on water quality," she said. "If there's no political will to actually take that information, take our scientific resources and use it for our state's benefit, that's what's missing."

Meanwhile, the DNR is now accepting public comments for a rule change aiming to better protect the groundwater in eastern Wisconsin.
The proposed changes to NR 151 dealing with policies on manure spreading practices for 15 counties comes on the heels of a study on the contamination of private wells in dairy-farm intensive Kewaunee County that showed nearly 60 percent of the wells sampled contained fecal microbes.
While the draft rules were first unveiled earlier this summer, the public comment period on the proposed changes will last until Oct. 4.
Among the changes outlined in the draft is one that would prohibit manure spreading within 250 feet of a private well, along with other rules that would further stipulate the conditions manure can be mechanically applied and guidelines governing the application of liquid manure.
They include: prohibiting mechanically applying manure on fields with less than two feet of soil over bedrock or groundwater; requiring farmers to avoid spreading manure on areas with a high risk of groundwater contamination due to pathogens; and forbidding the mechanical application of manure on frozen or snow-covered grounds on fields with a certain depth of soil over bedrock.
The agency previously held a month-long public commenting period from July 7 to Aug. 7 on the environmental impact assessment -- not the rules themselves. The economic impact is expected to be moderate, according to the agency, meaning less than $20 million.