Let's Explore Wisconsin Water

February 2011

The past few weeks we’ve been working on obtaining Central Wisconsin TU-RiverKeeper grant monies. It’s a necessary burden for our organization. Money helps us grow our capabilities, provides us with up-to-date equipment, (or more equipment to monitor more places) and hopefully allows us to tell our story to those who may also have an interest in doing this activity.

Hmmm, is this an activity? It’s fascinating to learn about water where we work, live and play, agree? For instance, let’s take a closer look at the six-county area where we water-monitor.

Let me break it down for you: It started because I ask a question about the number of high capacity wells in Adams and Waushara Counties. I was told in early summer "there’s almost 2200 of these."

Reflecting on the words of Aldo Leopold in A Sand Country Almanac, New York: Oxford University Press, 1949, I recalled something he wrote about paying attention to the technology being developed at the time. He wrote,

“few educated people realize that the marvelous advances in technology made during recent decades are improvements in the pump rather than the well. Acre for acre, they have barely sufficed to offset the sinking level of fertility.”

There’s a new permit request today to put in two new 500 gallon/minute high capacity water wells in Adams County in the Grand Marsh area, impacting the watershed of the Upper Wisconsin River. So I ask, “Is there ever an end to the groundwater supply that lies beneath us? Does anyone have an idea of how long this source of water will last?”

Here’s something to consider: (for the purpose of keeping this to the point, let’s investigate the water uses of:) Waushara County is in the heart of Wisconsin and the six-county area we monitor. Many of us are familiar with its location. What do you know about it?

3 of 5 municipal water systems in Waushara County have a wellhead protection plan: Coloma, Redgranite and Wautoma.

From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Waushara County has increased from about 18.3 million gallons per day to about 52.3 million gallons per day.*The increase in total water use over this period is due to primarily to an increase in irrigation use.

The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has ranged from about 86% to almost 100% during the period 1979 to 2005.*

83% of 259 private well samples collected in Waushara County from 1990-2006 met the health-based drinking water limit for nitrate-nitrogen

There are no concentrated animal feeding operations in Waushara County.

There are no licensed landfills in Waushara County.Do you want to know more about the groundwater in your county? Do you want to explore the groundwater protection provisions near where you live? First, there are a few things you may want to consider. (This came to me via a conversation with the DNR this past week relative to WATER RULES in Wisconsin.)

“Under existing statutes, our ability to limit new high capacity wells is restricted to instances in which the proposed well; 1) could affect a major spring; 2) is located within a groundwater protection area {i.e., within 1200’ of a trout stream, outstanding resource water or exceptional resource water}; 3) results in a water loss of greater than 95%; or 4) could adversely affect a municipal water supply. There is generally no consideration of cumulative impacts or evaluation of possible impacts to surface waters, other than those which are classified as trout streams, ORW or ERW. The extent of the department’s authority to consider impacts to any surface water resource is the subject of a case before the State Supreme Court, but for the time being, our reviews are normally limited to consideration of the specific statutory criteria mentioned above.”

Again, if you want to know specific information about your county, follow this link: http://wi.water.usgs.gov/gwcomp/find/index.html

The only “rap” I have is the dated information available, but this is due to my lack of faith in the up-to-date availability of the information because our regulators are basing their permits on “out-dated” information.

Remembering when a number of citizens, including the Regulatory agency representatives protested when a certain Corporation wanted to bottle water for profit in the Coloma area? Even though the mantra then as prevalent as now: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS---reason and fairness to cold water resources seem to prevail. (Yes, that was before nearby Long Lake and the Little Plover River, “a Class I” trout stream ran dry for six consecutive years.)

One last item: There are only 1600 active high-capacity wells in Adams and Waushara Counties now. But nothing is being done to limit more high-cap wells from being permitted here. Are you okay with that?