Gov.
Forty percent of Wisconsin residents get their drinking water from private wells, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services.
Nitrates are one of the most common drinking water contaminants in private wells.
Nitrate contamination is caused by runoff from fertilizers, septic systems, and manure storage and spreading.
Infants are particularly sensitive to nitrates, which they ingest when contaminated water is used to reconstitute baby formula.
When consumed, nitrates can cause a potentially fatal disease in infants called methemoglobinemia, or blue-baby syndrome, that limits red blood cells’ ability to carry oxygen throughout the body.
Some research also suggests that excess nitrates can cause gastrointestinal cancers in people and mice.
A 2017, La Crosse County Health Department survey found that 30 percent of the more than 540 wells they tested in Onalaska and Holland contained nitrates above the federal standard of 10 milligrams per liter.
The federal drinking water standards is 10 micrograms per liter for arsenic and 10 milligrams per liter for nitrates.
Evers will also put $75,000 toward the Southwest Wisconsin Groundwater and Geology study to better understand the interplay between geology and groundwater in Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette Counties, where 42 percent of wells tested above federal standards for nitrates in an initial survey.