Great News!  Due to negative test results (primarily arsenic contamination), the City of Green Bay has dropped its proposal to use Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR).  The Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources is requiring the city to continue pumping out the test wells, to remove the oxygen and contaminated water created by the tests.   It's a shame the City had to waste precious time and more than $1 million in ratepayers' money on such an obviously bad idea.  They refused to listen to DNR warnings or our  testimony at the hearings.   (read news articles)

Over the past two years, the City of Green Bay conducted tests to determine whether Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) would be a viable technology for increasing local public water supplies for the metro area of Brown County.

ASR would have involved use of the Green Bay Water Utility, which brings fresh water from Lake Michigan via a 30 mile pipeline across Kewaunee County into Brown County.  (Unfortunately, our Fox River and Bay are too polluted to use. See Fox River Watch.)

The Aquifer Storage and Recovery system would have taken extra pipeline water during off-peak use periods, filtered and treated it to meet drinking water standards, and then pumped it into undergrouind aquifers in Brown County, to store it there for pumping back out during peak water demand periods.  This means that the ASR and pipeline systems together would have met much higher demands than the one pipeline could alone.  The City of Green Bay had hoped the ASR system would prevent the need for a  more expensive second pipeline to Lake Michigan, to allow Green Bay's water utility to serve several other surrounding communities which urgently need new water supplies.  The other communities are currently using unhealthy, declining groundwater supplies, and are under orders and deadlines from the Wisconsin DNR and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up.  Green Bay is negotiating to sell water to the suburbs of Allouez, Ashwaubenon, Bellevue, De Pere, Hobart, Howard, Lawrence, Ledgeview and Scott.  At one time, the Oneida Tribe was also part of the negotiations.

The ASR system was envisioned to use up to 17 separate wells scattered around the metro area, so a large underground aquifer would have been affected.

Unfortunately, ASR posed several serious risks, and was heavily politicized as part of the acrimonious debate over what the metro area should do.   Some of the communities didn't want the ASR system and wanted to jointly build their own pipeline, under their own control.  Green Bay insisted they must all stick together, to keep costs down.  The bickering has been intense and the overall water supply issue is still not resolved.

It has been difficult to get the issue resolved partly because the ASR system was an uncertain option.  The City of Green Bay conducted a test in 2002, as required by the Wisconsin DNR, but failed badly.   After making some alterations, the City conducted another test this year (2003), and failed again.  This ASR testing kept the City from focussing on other options.

Clean Water Action Council testified at two Wisconsin DNR hearings in opposition to ASR and the new DNR rules allowing ASR in Wisconsin.  We believe the technology is too risky and threatens the integrity and health of Wisconsin's underground water supplies.   It appears that the DNR was forced to amend state regulations and allow these tests, against their better judgement, because state legislators representing the Green Bay metro area have been strong advocates of ASR. 

Problems with Aquifer Storage and Recovery

1. Toxic Contamination --- Both ASR tests conducted in Green Bay resulted in high arsenic levels in the water which had been stored underground in Brown County.   Certain rock layers under the metro area are laced with natural arsenic and other toxic minerals.   When the oxygenated Lake Michigan water was pumped into and through these layers, the oxygen reacted with the rocks, resulting in high acidity.  This acid dissolved toxic minerals out of the rock, greatly increasing the concentration of arsenic and other unhealthy substances in the stored water.

2. Disturbed Flows --- The ASR wells are completely different from ordinary wells which only pump water in one direction - out of the groundwater.  The ASR wells would have routinely pumped large amounts of water both in and out, on a daily basis, injecting oxygenated water and creating unusual back and forth pumping pressures which would have disturbed the equilibrium and flows of Brown County's aquifers.

3. Dilution wasn't a Guarantee --- The City of Green Bay argued that because large volumes of fresh water would have been injected regularly, any mobilized toxic contaminants would have been diluted down to safe levels.  The tests show this wasn't true.

4. Sheathing and De-oxygenation weren't Guarantees --- The City of Green also argued that they could sheath the well casing as it passed through the toxic rock layers, to prevent direct contact and oxygenation of that layer.  In addition, the City tested methods to de-oxygenate the Lake water before it was pumped underground.   Unfortunately, the second test showed that sheathing was not effective.   The City argued they should be given more time to allow the system to flush and stabilize, in order to meet water quality standards, but the DNR and EPA said the deadlines (for the winter of 2003) for the surrounding communities must be met.  We were also concerned that the intense back and forth ASR pumping pressures would gradually suck toxic contaminants through fractures in several layers of bedrock to increase contamination in the currently used aquifer layer.  This damage would take time to develop.  The sheath might be effective only temporarily, for a few months or years.  This effect has already been shown in private wells where sheaths have been installed.

5. Other Area Wells Would Become Contaminated --- Many nearby private and public wells would have become contaminated due to the in-and-out pumping of the ASR system.  While the ASR wells may, over time, have been able to maintain an underground pool of sufficiently diluted arsenic for themselves, wells drawing from the same aquifer layer but near the periphery of the area affected by the ASR would not have had this advantage.   At the periphery, the waters would have been more stagnant and undiluted, with increased contaminant levels.  Over time, this contamination zone would have spread, affecting many wells, especially down-gradient in the aquifer.   Unfortunately, during the ASR tests, the DNR required the City of Green Bay to place monitoring wells only 50 feet from the water injection site, so those water samples would be diluted and not represent conditions at the periphery.  But even with this advantage, the City failed the tests.

6. Arsenic Health Standards Are Weak --- Even if the ASR water had finally met the federal government's 10 ppb (parts per billion) arsenic standard for drinking water, this number is not a normal, true health standard.   It has been politically weakened due to the United State's widespread arsenic contamination problems and the economic costs of reaching a true health standard in U.S. drinking water supplies.  The World Health Organization states, "Based on health criteria, the guideline value for arsenic in drinking-water would be less than 0.01mg/L [10 ppb]."   A coalition of national consumer and environmental organizations is currently calling for an arsenic drinking water standard of 0.003 mg/L [3 ppm] - which is the limit of analytical detection - to better protect public health.  Unfortunately, the National Academy of Sciencies recently released a report which found that even a standard of 3 ppb would pose a fatal cancer risk 10 times higher than what EPA usually considers acceptable when regulating drinking water contaminants. 

7. Green Bay's Drinking Water Would Have Gotten Worse --- Currently, Green Bay's drinking water comes from Lake Michigan, which is extremely low in arsenic and other contaminants.  The ASR system would have introduced new toxic contamination into Green Bay's water supply which was not present before and is not necessary.  Green Bay residents were being asked to lower their water quality and accept significant health risks in order to serve all the communities around it, when those communities have the option of also tapping into Lake Michigan directly, installing better treatments or conserving water.

8. Water Conservation Is Needed --- Water use is rapidly increasing in Brown County, yet local governments have done little to educate residents and businesses about water conservation techniques, or to require simple water conservation measures.  Many industries, including major paper mills (who are LARGE groundwater users), have the option of installing closed-loop water recycling systems to conserve water.  Green Bay Packaging, a large local manufacturer, has been doing it for decades.  With careful conservation, our communities could avoid the need for a new pipeline or ASR.  (see Water Conservation)

Links to More Information

• Wisconsin DNR discussion of ASR

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/dwg/Uiw/UIW.html
 
• U.S. EPA discussion of ASR

http://www.epa.gov/region5/water/uic/current/aquiferstorage.htm
 
• The ASR debate in Florida

http://www.orckl.com/dwi2/asr/
 
• Arsenic Information (World Health Organization)

http://www.who.int/inf-fs/en/fact210.html

• Arsenic Information (The Campaign for Safe and Affordable Drinking Water)

http://www.safe-drinking-water.org/as_nov1.html

• Aquifer storage and recovery may be on its way down the drain - Sept.20, 2003 PG

• DNR won’t budge on aquifer tests - Sept 29, 2003 PG

• Arsenic levels dip in water tests; Amounts need to drop more for aquifer storage - August 23, 2003 PG (note the political spin on the headline...)

• Aquifer storage legislation could cut water rates - March 13, 2002 PG

• Introduction to Drinking Water
• Six Ways to Ensure Safe Drinking Water for Your Family
• Drinking Water Treatment: Chlorination and Fluorination
• Groundwater Issues
• Links to More Drinking Water Information