Assembly bill package targets groundwater protection

A $10 million package of 13 bills designed to combat groundwater contamination was passed in the Wis. State Assembly on February 18.

The package, championed by the Water Quality Task Force, aims to help residential, industrial, and agricultural sources with their groundwater.

The package will allow more contaminated wells to be properly dealt with than previously. Under the current rules, only a select amount of wells are covered by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) grant program that aims at repairing or replacing wells. The current restrictions on what wells fall under the well grant program are as follows: a well that is contaminated only by nitrates is eligible for a grant only if the well is a water supply for livestock, is used at least three months in each year, and contains nitrates in excess of 40 parts per million.

The new bill ensures that the DNR’s well grant program more broadly covers contamination and will help more people replace their faltering wells.

“Most likely, they’ll have to drill a new well to get down deeper, away from the nitrates,” said Taylor County Land Conservation Department conservationist Brent Tessmer, agreeing that the lifted grant restrictions will help Wisconsin residents. “I think it’s good, it’s one way to help these landowners who don’t really have any other options than paying it out of their own pocket.”

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is to implement an assistance program to work with farmers to reduce the overloading of nitrates in soil. Collaborating farmers will be tasked with reducing nitrogen rich applications such as manure, by utilizing crops that don’t need as much nitrogen to grow. Farmers will be eligible to receive not more than $50,000 from the grant.

According to Tessmer, nitrate pollution is generally at its worst in areas with loose soils: “Runoff permeates through the soil faster and makes it down to groundwater. These areas where they have sand basically all the way down to the aquifer, where people are getting their drinking water, that’s where nitrates and bacteria from fertilizer and manure, or from failing septic systems, get into [the groundwater system and people’s well water].”

Tessmer said that because of Taylor County’s denser soil composition, made of silt-loam soil with a heavier clay-type subsoil, combined with lower quantities of ground water, they don’t tend to run into as many issues with nitrate pollution. Contamination more often happens with barnyards that have large manure piles which sit on bare soil, affecting shallow and dug wells.

He expressed the importance of finding a median solution that benefits everyone, including farmers.

“In the end, the goal has got to be to get the nitrates out of the water. If they can find something that works for the farmers that doesn’t pollute the groundwater, that’d be a win-win. It somehow has to work for the farmers as well, but we can’t continue to have nitrates in the groundwater.”

Tessmer suggested tailoring farming practices to reduce nitrates, such as by split-applying nitrogen in small amounts so there is enough for the crops to pull in, but not an excess to drain down through the soil.

“Putting large amounts on at one time is when you run into issues with it moving down into the water table,” he said.

Wisconsin universities of Madison and Stevens Point will work with farmers as well, to research the most effective methods of reducing nitrate levels, which they will report to legislation.

The bill stipulates that all involved parties must partake in the program for at least two full growing seasons.

Damaged septic tanks can be a heavy contributor towards well contamination. Currently there is a grant in place ran by the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) that provides support towards those who have failing septic tanks, to help reduce damage done by leakage. This grant was set to be repealed in 2021, but the repeal has been pushed back to 2023.

According to Taylor County Zoning Administrator Kyle Noonan, in 2018 there were eight septic tank grant applicants in Taylor County who qualified and received a combined sum of $43,485 to alleviate damaged septic tanks; in 2019 there were 16 applicants and a request for $83,450, with the funds still to come.

“They haven’t really changed any of the qualifications or put in any more funding,” Noonan said about the program. “The state only allocates around $800,000. If you think about that for the whole state, it’s not that much money.”

There are 2,732 active holding tanks in Taylor County alone with tens of thousands more across the state, so the $800,000 is stretched rather thin between those who have failing septic tanks in Wisconsin.

The DSPS will be required to produce literature detailing who is eligible for the grant before it expires, and residents of Wisconsin can continue applying for it for the time being.

Unless replacement funding to take the grant’s place is in the works, these funds meant to help lower income residents replace their failing system will be cut off.

The package also aims to maintain or increase the number of conservation workers.

The bill provides that no county can receive a conservation staffing grant unless the county agrees to maintain the number of its conservation staff at or above the average number of such positions for the two fiscal years preceding Aug. 1, 2020.

Additionally, there will be assistance available to farmers enrolling in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, a state and federal joint program that pays farmers to cease crop production on endangered lands and to plant resource conserving species.

Environmentally unfriendly firefighting equipment was addressed too.

The DATCP will begin working with the DNR to collect and store/dispose fire fighting foams that contain the substances perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl, contaminates that make well and groundwater unsafe to drink or cook with.

Due to these substances’ powerful carbon-fluorine bond, they do not degrade well in the environment. Fire extinguishers that contain the substances will be collected from all across the state, including from private citizens.

Citizens will now have a 21-day public comment period to address substances the DNR identifies as currently contaminating or pose a risk of contaminating groundwater, before the DNR reports to the Department of Health Services (DHS).

Similarly, the DHS has to give a 21-day public comment period on the decontamination plan they propose, and must give their reasoning behind said plan.

Additionally, this bill package will enact grants to reimburse farmers who get certified in water stewardship from the Alliance for Water Stewardship. Through the grant, those who earn the certificate can be reimbursed up to 50% of the cost of certification, but the grant will not exceed $10,000.

The bill also provides rebates in the form of $5 per acre of cover crop planted for crop insurance premiums. The DATCP will determine what cover crop is to be planted that will initiate a rebate, and farmers must plant the cover crop before submitting an application.

DATCP will also change their watershed protection grants. Currently, only producer-led groups of farmers located in a single watershed can apply for the grant. With the package, producer-led farmer groups made of adjacent watersheds will also apply for grants.

Those producer-led groups who will qualify for the watershed protection grants will also be eligible for lake protection grants, under the new bills.

The 13 bill package is a much needed addition to combat groundwater contamination, especially after a decade-long falling of environmental funds.

The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), an environmental nonprofit organization, published a report on Dec. 5, 2019, that revealed Wisconsin led the country in cuts to environmental funding percentage-wise from 2008 to 2018.

The EIP reported that in 2008, Wisconsin spent $91,425,843 on the environment. Adjusted for inflation to match the researchers publication time’s currency, that equates to $106,968,236, according to the EIP.

In contrast, Wisconsin spent $68,936,128 in environmental spending in 2018, a drop of $38,032,109 from the unadjusted 2008 funding, marking the highest percentage drop in the continental 48 states at 35.55%, the report said.

Wisconsin legislators expressed their intent to continue expanding upon environmental funding, beyond this package of bills.

Increasing the quality of Wisconsin’s water systems is of upmost importance, and is in vogue with the theme of Earth Day 2020: climate action.

These new additions are sure to help maintain Wisconsin’s beautiful lakes, rivers, fields, and forests, benefiting all of us who admire its natural brilliance.