Bill tackles ‘forever chemicals’
Baldwin, others aim to help communities
MADISON - U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at helping small communities in Wisconsin and across the country address the growing issue of “forever chemicals” increasingly being found in private groundwater wells.
The “Healthy H2O Act” introduced by Baldwin, and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, RMaine, would provide resources to small communities of 10,000 people or less that are reliant on private wells and groundwater, a source of drinking water that remains unregulated in Wisconsin and where some of the most extreme forever chemical contamination has been found.
The legislation would provide grants for water quality testing and the purchase and installation of point-of-use or point-of-entry water quality improvement systems that remove or significantly reduce PFAS, lead, nitrates and other contaminants from drinking water, according to Baldwin’s office.
Grants would be provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture directly to individuals and to non-profits in rural areas.
“Regardless of where you live, every Wisconsinite deserves access to clean drinking water and an environment free of toxic chemicals. Across our state, many rural and smaller communities are struggling to identify, treat, and get rid of emerging chemicals that endanger our health, especially that of our children,” Baldwin said in a release.
The legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota; Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire; and Angus King, I-Maine, according to Baldwin’s office.
The bill announcement follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s release of recommended regulations Tuesday. The agency released a draft of its proposed rules for two common chemicals in the PFAS family of compounds — PFOA and PFOS — at a limit of 4 parts per trillion in drinking water, limits more stringent than state-set standards in Wisconsin.
But those regulations govern public drinking water systems and do not apply to communities where residents have their own well on their property. The bill aims to extend funding to those residents, who won’t qualify for money coming into states from sources such as
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
Nearly 43 million households across America rely on private wells. In Wisconsin, about 1 million households rely on private wells, or about 30% of the state’s population.
PFAS — or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a family of man-made chemicals used for their water- and stain-resistant qualities in products like clothing and carpet, nonstick cookware, packaging and firefighting foam. The family includes 5,000 compounds, which are persistent, remaining both in the environment and the human body over time.
The chemicals have been linked to types of kidney and testicular cancers, lower birth weights, harm to immune and reproductive systems, altered hormone regulation and altered thyroid hormones. The chemicals enter the human body largely through drinking water.
The compounds have been found in a number of Wisconsin communities over the last several years, including Marinette, Peshtigo, Wausau, Eau Claire, Milwaukee, Madison, La Crosse and Mosinee.
A Journal Sentinel investigation last year found a number of smaller water supplies are being affected by the chemicals as well, including some municipalities, such as Palmyra, that had PFOA above the new recommendations.
Several communities in Wisconsin with private wells have been affected by PFAS, including the Town of Campbell near La Crosse and the Town of Stella, near Rhinelander.
In Stella, levels of PFAS as high as 46,000 parts per trillion were found in
“Regardless of where you live, every Wisconsinite deserves access to clean drinking water and an environment free of toxic chemicals...” U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin
some private wells last year, during g a random sampling of private wells. After the first well in the area showed elevated levels, the agency conducted 38 more tests, 24 of which have had levels above state regulations for the chemicals.
The DNR started providing water in January to the residents whose wells tested high for the compounds and is working to expand the testing area further to find how far the contamination reaches. One potential source of the chemicals could be biosolids, or the sludge from sewage treatment plants that is often used as inexpensive fertilizer on agricultural fields. PFAS in wastewater often ends up being concentrated in those biosolids and then moves through the soil and into the water table after its spread.
In the Town of Campbell, which is located on French Island just across the Mississippi River from La Crosse, residents are also reliant on bottled water, due to high levels of contamination found during testing over the last several years. The contamination plaguing the town migrated from the La Crosse Regional Airport property, where firefighting foam was tested, used to put out fires in burn pits and used to extinguish the flames that followed several airplane crashes.