Evers establishes position to head up lead pollution fight
Governors urge 2020 candidates to protect water
MADISON – Gov. Tony Evers established a lead pollution czar Monday as he and other Great Lakes governors urged presidential candidates to commit to boosting spending on projects for the world’s largest source of fresh surface water.
At a stop in Kenosha, Evers signed an executive order creating a position at the state Department of Health Services to coordinate efforts to reduce lead pollution in drinking water. Evers did not announce who would take the job.
Sources of lead exposure include paint, pipes, dust and soil. No level of lead is considered safe, especially for children. Lead poisoning can lead to lifelong complications, including brain damage.
Wisconsin has more than 176,000 lead service lines and more than 350,000 homes with lead paint hazards, according to the governor’s office.
Also Monday, Evers joined with the governors of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania to call for presidential candidates to put an emphasis on protecting the Great Lakes. Like Evers, the other governors are Democrats.
“Too many children and families are exposed to unsafe drinking water. It’s
unacceptable,” Evers said in a statement. “Everyone should be able to drink clean water from their tap, which is why I’m proud to stand with my colleagues in this effort to commit our nation’s leaders to strengthening our infrastructure, improving water quality and protecting public health.”
Specifically, Evers and the other governors asked President Donald Trump and the Democrats running against him to pledge to triple spending on Great Lakes infrastructure projects for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater.
They also called on increasing funding to $475 million a year to fight invasive species, clean up spills and restore wetlands.
Other recommendations call for stronger ballast water rules to limit the spread of invasive species and to take action to combat “forever chemicals” called perfluorinated chemicals or PFAS that are turning up in water systems across the Midwest.
The governors also want federal help to reduce nutrient pollution in western Lake Erie to prevent algae outbreaks and to back the reconstruction of the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan — a key navigation link to move material across the lakes.
In Wisconsin, Evers has promised to make 2019 the year of clean drinking water. Republicans who control the Legislature have also shown interest in doing more on water issues, but they have rejected some of Evers’ plans.
They threw aside an Evers proposal to spend $40 million on replacing lead service lines around the state. Republicans said they didn’t like the proposal in part because much of the money would go to Milwaukee instead of other parts of the state.
Most of the lead service lines in the state are in Milwaukee, but more than 80 other communities also have lead service lines, according to the environmental group Clean Wisconsin.
Mismanagement of Milwaukee’s programs aimed at preventing and addressing lead poisoning in children reached a crisis level last year. Failures to follow up with the families of poisoned children forced former Health Commissioner Bevan Baker out of his job. A number of other employees have been fired or disciplined.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm confirmed in April that there was an ongoing local and state criminal investigation into the department.
Increasing numbers of Milwaukeearea children have been hospitalized for severe lead poisoning in recent years, a Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin doctor told city officials in March. Heather Paradis, a pediatrician who serves as the hospital’s medical director for community services, said that unlike other cities in the Great Lakes region, the number of children in the community hospitalized with extreme lead poisoning has risen since 2013.