Tony Evers will call for allowing state environmental and agricultural officials to borrow nearly $70 million more over the next two years to combat water pollution and replace lead pipes in his first state budget, following through on his pledge to attack drinking water contamination during his first year in office.
Evers is expected to unveil the full two-year spending plan on Feb. 28 but gave The Associated Press a broad preview of his water quality initiatives.
It’s unclear how the proposals will go over with Republicans who control the Legislature.
State agriculture officials would be allowed to borrow another $3 million over two years to fund grants to farmers for building infrastructure that reduces pollution from agriculture.
Evers also wants to spend an additional $300,000 on studies on water pollution management and implementing new manure-spreading restrictions the DNR enacted last year along Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shoreline, where porous Silurian bedrock allows contaminants to seep into groundwater more easily.
"Increased funding for northeast Wisconsin’s (Silurian bedrock) areas would help farmers implement the new performance standards," she said in an email.
A November survey by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey found 42 percent of 301 randomly selected wells in Iowa, Grant and Lafayette counties exceed federal standards for bacteria.
Replacing a single line can cost thousands of dollars.
Evers pointed to the problems in his State of the State address last month, declaring 2019 the year of clean drinking water .
Republican reaction to Evers’ declaration in his speech was guarded.