The purpose of the gathering was for representatives of the state legislature, the county board, and the county Department of Public Health, to update local residents about the ongoing investigation into contaminated well water in Holland and Onalasla Townships.
Residents not alerted Mike Giese, LaCrosse County Supervisor and Chairman of the County Health and Human Services Board, explained to the group how the county had come to be aware of the well water contamination, and what response they had received from the DNR.
Giese told the group that as part of the June 2016 nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) report, ‘Wastewater Permitting and Enforcement: Department of Natural Resources,’ there were concerns expressed about Babcock Genetics, a permitted CAFO with 1,950 animal units.
The LaCrosse County Board of Human Services Committee discussed these findings at their July 2016 meeting, and passed a resolution which had the following demands: DNR will ensure the records of all inspections and determinations are electronically recorded and available in a timely fashion to staff responsible for monitoring and enforcing regulations; DNR will conduct inspections of permittees within 12 months of expiration of their current permits and not reissue permits before inspections are conducted; DNR will reissue Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permits only when the permittee is in substantial compliance as required by Wisconsin Statutes; and DNR will follow its enforcement policy and issue notices of violations when permittees violate the terms of their WPDES permit.
“You have to do that on your own.” In April and May, 560 residents tested their private well water at the Health Department Laboratory for nitrates, bacteria, or both.
Of these 542 nitrate tests were completed, with 164 (30.3 percent) exceeding recommended levels of 10 mcg/ml.
“The DNR is not protecting the citizens,” Representative Doyle told the group.
Staff of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated that the size of a permit backlog is one indicator of how well a state’s wastewater program is administered.
The DNR’s Baumann was quoted by Giese at the meeting as saying, “The exceedances in nitrates in groundwater at the Babcock Genetics monitoring wells are decreasing.
Representative Doyle, who was quick to compliment LaCrosse County for taking such aggressive action to obtain the needed information from the DNR, told the group: “Though the outcome with the Nitrate Task Force here in LaCrosse County will be policy-oriented, we certainly hope that Jennifer and her team will work with state legislators to help make recommendations for legislative changes as well,” Doyle said.