Nitrate in our water

Nitrate in groundwater is due largely to agricultural activity and is linked to negative health effects including cancer, birth defects, even infant death. Farm run-off that gets into our groundwater, lakes, and streams contains dangerous pathogens, bacteria, and chemicals. Nearly 100,000 homes in Wisconsin have wells contaminated with nitrate.

The health risks include:

• Blue Baby Syndrome, an emergency health situation in which infants are not getting enough oxygen in their blood and can die;
• adverse pregnancy outcomes, including very low birth weight, very pre-term birth, and incurable brain and spinal cord defects like spina bifida;
• cancers, including colorectal, bladder, ovarian, thyroid, and kidney; and
• diabetes, especially in children.
  

Families are suffering across the state. Erika Balza’s Kewaunee County home is everything to her and her husband, Rob. When they woke to liquid manure streaming from their faucets and shower, their dream home turned into a nightmare. They had to replace a well and buy new appliances, but still can’t drink their water. Erika, disgusted by the situation, spoke up on local television and through Wisconsin Conservation Voters. Her willingness to share her family’s story helped bring the reality of the state’s drinking water crisis to the forefront.

We need to prevent pollution before it gets into our water. In 2018, the Department of Natural Resources Board approved strengthened manure spreading rules in eastern Wisconsin called NR 151. Now, it’s time to extend those rules to all parts of the state we know are most sensitive to nitrate pollution.

NR 151 should be strengthened in the next 10 years to include enforcement mechanisms so that polluters can be held accountable. We also need to help people whose water is already contaminated. The state’s well compensation program, which provides grants for well replacement, only replaces wells that provide water for farm animals – not humans! Also, the household income limits haven’t been changed since 1984.

It’s time to modernize income requirements and make wells that human beings use eligible for replacement, too.

Learn more about nitrate and it’s devastating consequences on our health.

Nitrate in groundwater is due largely to agricultural activity and is linked to negative health effects including cancer, birth defects, even infant death. Farm run-off that gets into our groundwater, lakes, and streams contains dangerous pathogens, bacteria, and chemicals. Nearly 100,000 homes in Wisconsin have wells contaminated with nitrate.

Learn more about Nitrate and its risks to your health here.

When and how to test

You should test your private well at least once a year for nitrate. More frequent testing may be useful if there are any known sources of nitrate nearby or if high nitrate concentrations are found in neighboring wells. The only way to know if your drinking water contains nitrate is to have a water sample from your private well tested by a certified laboratory.

There are many public and private labs that test well water. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) maintains a list online here or you can contact your local health department. A test kit (including sampling instructions) may be obtained from any laboratory certified to test water for bacteriological and nitrate contamination. Make sure you carefully follow all instructions for sampling and handling.

What now?

If your water tests above the limits for nitrates, you should stop drinking your well water.

Unfortunately, fixes like well replacement and whole-house filtration systems are often very expensive and are not foolproof.

The most reliable way to fix water quality issues is to prevent drinking water pollution in the first place.