Wisconsin is a water-rich state, but the quality of its drinking water is sometimes open to question.  It's vital that we all work to prevent new contamination and to clean up past problems that damage our drinking water supplies.
 

Currently, several Wisconsin lakes and rivers are too contaminated to be used as drinking water sources, including the lower Fox River in Northeast Wisconsin.  Many other communities have to carefully filter and treat their surface waters to make them safe for drinking. In some localities, drinking water drawn from underground aquifers can become contaminated with bacteria and viruses because of insufficient topsoil layers to filter rainwater as it trickles down to recharge the groundwater.   Livestock manure, human sewage sludge, fertilizers and pesticides can also seep down into groundwater supplies. In some areas of Northeast Wisconsin, contaminated surface runoff can directly enter underground water supplies through fractured rock outcroppings, sink holes, quarries and abandoned wells.  To make matters worse, large areas of Northeast Wisconsin suffer from naturally high levels of toxic minerals and contaminants - such as arsenic, lead, flouride, iron and radium - in certain layers of the underground aquifer.  When these toxic layers are drilled through or pumped, the contaminants can spread into clean aquifer layers resulting in wider groundwater contamination problems.

Unfortunately, efforts to treat water can also result in new health threats.  Chlorination of drinking water supplies virtually eliminates most disease or bacterial contamination, but creates traces of several toxic by-products in drinking water - such as chloroform, chloramines, trihalomethanes and other chlorinated organic compounds.  Fluorination of drinking water is used to prevent tooth decay, but may also have unintended and unhealthy side effects.  Government agencies have decided the benefits are worth the risks, but alternatives are available in many instances.

These are serious problems, but most can be addressed.

Other Drinking Water Sections:

• Six Ways to Ensure Safe Drinking Water for Your Family
• Aquifer Storage and Recovery in the Green Bay Area
• Drinking Water Treatment: Chlorination and Fluorination
• Groundwater Issues
• Links to More Drinking Water Information