Contact(s): Contact: Mike Lemcke (608) 266-2104 MADISON – Proposals to add groundwater standards for 15 new contaminants and to revise standards for 15 others are the topic of public hearings starting next week across Wisconsin. Standards are proposed for the first time for four pesticides, compounds left when pesticides break down, and compounds related to the production of explosives and munitions, including those detected in groundwater near the Badger Army Ammunition Plant. “These are standards to protect the resource and people’s drinking water,” says Mike Lemcke, groundwater section chief for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “We’re trying to protect the groundwater for current and future uses.” Lemcke said the substances the DNR is setting standards for are ones state and federal agencies have detected in Wisconsin groundwater, or for which there is a reasonable probability of the contaminants entering the groundwater. Two-thirds of Wisconsin residents served by municipal water suppliers get their drinking water from groundwater. In addition, Wisconsin has 800,000 to 1 million private water wells. Sampling done by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection estimates that pesticides or the breakdown products of pesticides have been detected in one-third of private wells, although less than 2 percent of the private wells exceed an enforcement standard for pesticides. “Having pesticides detected in groundwater doesn’t necessarily mean there is a health impact,” Lemcke says. “It does mean this stuff is reaching our drinking water supplies and we don’t want it there. “We have our health professionals review the existing research and advise us as to whether specific standards are needed to protect the public.” The state Department of Health Services recommends to DNR standards for substances detected in groundwater or with a high probability of being detected and presenting a risk to public health or welfare. Once standards are set, state agencies are required to review their existing regulations and ensure the facilities they regulate meet the standards. Agencies are supposed to respond when the substance exceeds a “preventative action level” or “enforcement standard.” The state already has groundwater standards for more than 30 pesticides. The DNR’s proposal would add standards for four pesticides and proposed standards for the break down products of two pesticides keep weeds out of corn and soybean crops. New standards also are proposed for all forms of dinitrotoluene, DNT, a chemical substance that has been detected in drinking water wells near the Badger Army Ammunition Plant. To set the proposed standards, the DNR has followed the process established by Chapter 160, Wisconsin’s groundbreaking 1984 groundwater protection law and used previously to set groundwater standards for 123 substances of public health concern, eight substances of public welfare concern and 15 indicator parameters. The proposed revisions to Chapter NR 140 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code can be reviewed in the complete proposed rule changes and fiscal estimate available on the Wisconsin Administrative Rules Web site (search this site using NR 140) . Written comments on the proposed rule amendments may be submitted electronically through this Web site. Written comments on the proposed rule may be submitted until Dec. 30, 2009, via U.S. mail to: Mike Lemcke, Wisconsin DNR, Bureau of Drinking Water & Groundwater, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI, 53707. Written comments, whether submitted electronically or by U.S. mail, will have the same weight and effect as oral statements presented at the public hearings. For more information or a copy of the proposed rule and fiscal estimate contact Mike Lemcke at - (608) 266-2104. The hearings will be held on the following dates at the locations listed: December 11, Madison - 10 a.m., in the State Natural Resources Building (GEF II), Room G09, 101 South Webster St. December 14, Baraboo - 10 a.m. at the Sauk County - UW Extension, West Square Administration Building, Room B30, 505 Broadway. December 15, Eau Claire - 10 a.m. at the Eau Claire State Office Building, Room 139, 718 West Clairemont Ave. December 15, Stevens Point - 4 p.m. at the UW-Stevens Point, Communications Arts Center (CAC), Room 211, 1101 Reserve St. December 16, Oshkosh - 10 a.m. at the UW-Oshkosh, Halsey Science Center, Room 259, 921 Elmwood Ave.
