DRAFT Groundwater Management Plan
Section 6 Recommendations
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SECTION 6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS (pdf file--text only)
The citizens of Portage County are highly dependent on groundwater for drinking, municipal, industrial, agricultural, and other uses. So too are the County’s streams, lakes, wetlands, and aquatic plant and animal communities. Our groundwater is owned by all of us in a public trust. Along with the rights of ownership, go the responsibilities for stewardship, and for passing the resource on to future generations. Three critical groundwater challenges have been identified by the Groundwater Citizens Advisory Committee (GCAC) - groundwater quantity, nitrate pollution, and pesticide pollution – as priorities for future action.
GCAC has developed the following recommendations, for goals for groundwater quantity and quality, based on existing health standards, and desired drinking water and environmental conditions. Some of the goals, such as "Determine what pesticides are being used and where.", reflect our current lack of knowledge. Others, such as the quantity goals, are based on perceived needs of the citizens of Portage County and our environment. Once adopted, these goals can serve as the base for groundwater programs in Portage County for the foreseeable future.
Each of the recommended strategies is designed to achieve progress toward one of the goals. These strategies are by no means all of the ways in which the goals can be achieved, but represent a good starting point for moving forward in groundwater protection in Portage County. In order to implement each of the strategies, an advisory group of stakeholders will be needed to achieve the best result, with minimal waste of time, funds, and energy. The strategies are necessarily general in nature, in order to provide flexibility in implementation. A great deal of public and private sector interaction and collaboration will be necessary to achieve progress in these areas. It will be essential to avoid polarization, realizing that we are working toward our common goal of adequate quantities of clean groundwater, and recognizing the needs of each constituent group, if we are to be successful.
6.1 GOALS
The approach chosen for planning the future of Portage County groundwater is somewhat different than past groundwater protection efforts. The emphasis of these revisions is to establish goals regarding available quantities of groundwater for all uses, and water quality goals for levels of contamination from pesticides and nitrate-nitrogen. The water quality goals are based on State adopted Public Health Standards listed in APPENDIX PH. Pesticide goals reflect research documenting health effects at levels significantly below the Enforcement Standard.
Pesticides Goals:
1. Determine what pesticides are being used and where. Target the above areas and sample wells for possible detection of these pesticides.
2. For pesticides with established groundwater standards:
a. In areas where pesticide concentrations in groundwater are below the Preventative Action Level (PAL), pesticide concentrations should be maintained below the PAL.
b. In areas where pesticide concentrations in groundwater are at or over the PAL, pesticide concentrations should be lowered to below the PAL.
c. In all cases where multiple pesticides are present below their individual enforcement standards in groundwater, the sum of all pesticide residues should not exceed the most stringent enforcement standard for any of the individual pesticides detected.
3. For pesticides without groundwater standards:
a. In areas where these pesticides are detected in groundwater, levels should be maintained or lowered to levels below the PAL established for similar pesticides having groundwater standards.
b. In all cases where multiple pesticides are present in groundwater, the sum of all pesticide residues should not exceed the most stringent enforcement standard established for similar pesticides having groundwater standards.
Nitrate Goals:
1. In areas where groundwater nitrate is:
a. below the enforcement standard (10 ppm nitrate nitrogen), nitrate concentrations should be maintained or lowered.
b. at or over the enforcement standard, nitrate concentrations should be reduced to below the enforcement standard.
2. In areas where nitrate concentrations are below the enforcement standard, but cause negative environmental impacts, measures should be taken to reduce nitrate levels.
Quantity Goals:
1. Avoid human-influenced depletion of the County’s lakes, streams, wetlands, and groundwater reserves.
2. Identify areas within the County that may have groundwater shortages now or in the future.
6.2 STRATEGIES
In order to achieve the Goals set forth in the previous section, specific strategies have been discussed and developed. These methods for meeting the Goals are by no means the only ones that have been (or can be) considered. The Strategies are in no particular order, but will be prioritized based on public input. Based on annual evaluation of results of future County groundwater program activities, other strategies will likely be added, and perhaps some deleted, in the future. Each of these items will be further developed, by a team including stakeholders from the public and private sectors, with a specific plan of work, including anticipated staffing requirements, and will be submitted for consideration by the Planning and Zoning Committee of the County Board of Supervisors.
Continue Current County Programs Which Affect Or Improve Groundwater
Current groundwater programs, and the County agency currently responsible for their administration, are listed below, along with a brief description of each program. Many current groundwater programs were established as a result of the adoption of the Groundwater Management Plan in 1988.
Private onsite wastewater treatment systems: Residences and businesses not served by municipal sewer require private onsite wastewater treatment systems (POWTS) to properly treat sewage, removing disease-causing bacteria and viruses, before the sewage reenters the groundwater. County staff reviews soil test reports prepared by State certified soil testers, and verify soils on individual sites. County staff also reviews plans for proposed POWTS to make certain that the plans are code compliant, and issue
Figure 5.4 Well Construction
sanitary permits based on the soil test and plans submitted. They inspect POWTS during construction to assure proper installation; County staff also investigates complaints of failing POWTS (formerly referred to as septic systems) and assists property owners in replacing or rehabilitating these failing systems. The Wisconsin Fund Grant program can pay a portion of the cost of a replacement system.
Drinking water quality for new residences: Prior to approving a proposed survey to create a new residential lot in the unincorporated areas of the County, groundwater quality in the surrounding area is reviewed to determine whether a well on the proposed lot is likely to produce good quality drinking water. Based on information regarding depths and corresponding water quality in nearby wells, the new well can be constructed to assure the best quality water for the proposed residence. If the County does not have sufficient (or sufficiently recent) data on record, the developer of the proposed lot is required to provide funding for water tests from nearby wells prior to approval of the survey.
Assist the public with water quality information: People considering buying property in a given area of the County are often curious regarding the quality of drinking water they can expect. Information regarding the risks associated with pollutants present in a given well is also discussed. Recommendations for specific water sample analyses to obtain additional information are provided.
Maintain and improve County and State groundwater databases: Over the past fifty years, extensive water sampling has been conducted in Portage County, for a wide variety of purposes, and by a wide variety of investigators. Taken together, these records can provide a good picture of current groundwater quality, and trends in groundwater quality and quantity over time. In order to make these records most useful, each sample result needs to be correlated to the specific well from which it was obtained. Ownership and location information submitted with many samples is not sufficient to determine which well was sampled, and the results are not highly useful. In addition, the information provided by property owners may conflict with that provided previously. It is often necessary to interpret the data in order to assure that decisions, by property owners and by local and State officials, are made based only on accurate information.
Conduct drinking water education programs for communities: Each year a specific area of the County is targeted for an educational program regarding groundwater quality. This effort usually involves providing information to area residents regarding local water quality, assisting them in getting their drinking water samples analyzed, and conducting a community meeting to interpret sample results and answer questions. This approach makes it much more convenient for people to obtain information critical to their health and wellbeing.
Implement County Groundwater Management Plan Recommendations: Provide groundwater information to County, local, and State officials regarding ordinances and codes designed to meet established water quality standards, and recommend changes where necessary.
Wellhead Protection Ordinance: Assure compliance with the County Wellhead Protection Ordinance, in unincorporated areas of the County that are within municipal well recharge areas.
Administered by the HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Advise citizens regarding water quality health concerns: People whose water samples contain unsafe levels of contaminants can receive health-related information from Environmental Health Section staff. This information is commonly provided to rural Portage County residents whose well water samples are found to be bacteriologically unsafe or those served by the Women and Infant Children program.
Private well inspections (unsafe samples): Upon obtaining a bacteriologically unsafe water sample result, a property owner is usually directed to resample (carefully following proper sample directions) to eliminate a false positive result. If the sample comes back positive for bacteria following the second sample, an environmental health sanitarian will inspect the well to determine the likely reason that bacteria are present in the well, advise the property owner regarding disinfection (chlorination) and, if necessary, well repair or replacement.
Transient Noncommunity Public Water Systems: The County contracts with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to annually sample and inspect the private water supply systems providing drinking water for establishments that serve the public. These include restaurants, taverns, hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, churches, schools, campgrounds, recreational and educational camps, and grocery stores.
Waterborne Illness Investigations: Suspected cases of waterborne illness are investigated to determine the likely cause and to recommend necessary corrective actions to prevent future incidents. Waterborne illnesses include gastrointestinal (vomiting, diarrhea) problems, infant methemoglobinemia, and headaches that can be caused by a number of microbial or chemical contaminants. Victims of waterborne illnesses often require hospitalization or other medical treatment.
Water Quality Partnership with Central Wisconsin Groundwater Center and Environmental Task Force (ETF) Lab: Drinking water samples obtained by Environmental Health staff are submitted to the ETF lab for analysis. A partnership has been established with the Central Wisconsin Groundwater Center for addressing health-related groundwater problems in the County.
Healthy People Portage County – Environmental Health Implementation Team: A multifaceted initiative to address health issues and promote health to the citizenry of Portage County has a team specifically focused on the issues of food safety, air quality, and drinking water quality. The drinking water goal is: to prevent people from drinking water of unknown quality.
Determine Areas With High Nitrate And Pesticide Levels
This will be accomplished utilizing the County Geographic Information System (GIS) using water sample information currently in the County database, and future information obtained from other sources. All available data sources will be used to further develop a unified County water quality database. Some of the data has incorrect locational information and cannot be added to the database without investigation and correction.
Sources of information include the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), the Central Wisconsin Groundwater Center (UWSP Environmental Task Force Lab), the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the Portage County Environmental Health Lab (closed January 2002). While much of the information is in computer databases, some data is available only on paper and will need to be entered into the County database in order to be useful. The computerized data exists in different formats and must often be converted or otherwise modified before it can be added to the County database.
Based on this information, ongoing monitoring for nitrates, and individual pesticides of highest concern, can be prioritized to the areas with the greatest known or potential problems.
Establish Well Abandonment Program In Portage County
Unused wells are a great threat for contamination of drinking water since they can provide a direct route to the groundwater for any pollutants on or near the ground surface. Currently, DNR administers the well abandonment program. It does not have enough staff to follow up on proper abandonment of unused wells, and has offered to allow counties to administer this program as delegates of the State. Portage County proposes to pass an ordinance vesting authority for this program in the Planning and Zoning Department, and Health and Human Services-Environmental Health Section. The proposed ordinance is located in Appendix WA of this document. It will complement existing ordinances in communities with municipal water supplies.
Ongoing Public Education
Groundwater education in Portage County is conducted in a number of ways in a variety of settings. Despite a local sensitivity to groundwater issues developed over the past thirty years, the need exists for continued groundwater education for children and adults. This has been accomplished through the environmental education curriculum in our schools, presentations to community groups, issue-specific education of property owners, and media coverage of groundwater news.
Recently added to these traditional methods of information dissemination, are the Portage County Groundwater Website (www.uwsp.edu/water/portage) and the Portage County Groundwater Guardians. The website has a variety of information specific to Portage County and a multitude of links to other groundwater related internet sites. The Groundwater Guardian team is comprised of local citizens (with representatives from agriculture, business, education, and government) who have provided water related videotapes to County schools, and coordinated volunteer groundwater lessons for County elementary school children.
In addition to general groundwater education programs, specific programs are under development with the assistance of UW Extension to:
Educate Rural and Urban Homeowners Concerning the Impacts on Groundwater of Septic Systems, and Lawn and Garden Fertilizers and Pesticides, and,
Educate Operators of Businesses and Institutions Regarding Groundwater Impacts from Landscape Practices, and Chemical Storage and Use.
Develop A Portage County Agricultural Pesticide Reporting Database
It is known that certain pesticides currently or historically used in Portage County leach to groundwater, especially in areas of sandy soils. It is very expensive to analyze groundwater samples for pesticides. It is not economically feasible, nor a wise use of sampling funds, to analyze routinely for pesticides. Licensed pesticide applicators are required to keep records of locations and application rates of restricted use pesticides. Currently, this information is only available to DATCP, if agency staff chooses to request the information. If the dates, locations of use, and application rates of each pesticide were available to Portage County staff, it would be possible to decide likely locations to sample for individual pesticides used in these areas.
Determine Recharge Rates And Water Budgets For All Of The County’s Aquifers
It will be possible to properly understand land use impacts, regarding groundwater quantity and stream baseflow, in Portage County, only if the water budgets (infiltration vs. withdrawal) for each of the County's aquifers are well understood. This understanding is necessary in order to provide adequate groundwater resources for all non-consumptive (environmental, recreational, etc.), as well as consumptive uses of our groundwater. This will be accomplished using the County Geographic Information System (GIS), and will utilize well construction reports, as well as published documents regarding bedrock type and depth. This effort will complement the high capacity well legislation currently working its way through the State legislative process.
Develop Collaborative Partnerships Between Portage County Agencies
The Planning and Zoning Department (P&Z) was named the lead agency in the County for groundwater programming under the Groundwater Management Plan (1988). In reality, P&Z staff has worked closely with the Environmental Health Section (EHS) on health-related groundwater issues. EHS obtained a grant to help develop health-related content for the Groundwater Website, contracts with DNR for sampling and inspection of noncommunity public wells, and counsels citizens with known drinking water contamination. In addition, P&Z and EHS are currently developing the proposed well abandonment program. Specific groundwater improvement goals are part of the P&Z Land Conservation Section’s Land and Water Resource Management Plan (September 1999) and complement the Strategies in this document. See APPENDIX LC.
Further partnerships will be developed with other organizations and agencies (Golden Sands RC & D, UW Extension, Plover River Alliance, environmental groups, business, and agriculture trade groups) concerned with groundwater related environmental protection.
Negotiate With Corporate Food Processors Regarding Pesticides And Nutrients Required For Grower Contracts
Farmers who grow vegetable crops intended for sale to the area corporate food processors (e.g. Del Monte, McCain, etc.) are required by contract to grow these crops under specific conditions. Often these conditions require nutrient and pesticide applications that can result in leaching of chemicals to groundwater. Negotiations with processors may be able to lessen these requirements, resulting in decreased potential for groundwater contamination. A substantial amount of the land in the recharge areas for the Stevens Point, Whiting, and Plover municipal wells is used for vegetable production. Most of the land used for vegetable production outside these municipal well recharge areas contains drinking water wells for hundreds of rural families.
Support Statewide Pesticide Reporting Database
Support a Statewide Pesticide Reporting Database: Current legislation has established a limited program in DATCP to study the feasibility of a Statewide pesticide reporting database. If Portage County wants to see a Statewide pesticide reporting database established, we need to be at least as active in our support as some other interests are in their opposition.
Encourage Organic And Sustainable Agriculture
It has been demonstrated that organic farming, which eliminates the use of pesticides, has lower groundwater impacts than current mainstream agricultural practices. While the knowledge of organic farming practices is available, we need to actively promote the use of these techniques as a means to protect and improve groundwater. This will involve UW-Extension staff.
Sustainable agriculture is understood to mean growing crops and livestock profitably without undue deterioration of the environment.
Court Businesses That Can Utilize Groundwater Friendly Crops
Some crops can be grown profitably with little or no impact to groundwater. Specifically, legumes (alfalfa and soybeans) are commonly grown in many areas for livestock feed and other uses. Whether farmers will grow these crops locally depends on economic return and availability of stable markets. Portage County farmers, who could produce these crops, without contaminating the groundwater, should be brought together with the businesses that use these groundwater friendly crops. We need to identify these businesses, and determine what is needed to bring them together with the farmers.
Golden Sands RC&D recently completed a study investigating groundwater friendly crops (APPENDIX AD) that can be grown in central Wisconsin and likely uses for them. The Village of Plover explored establishment of a committee to develop ways to get farmers in its municipal well recharge area to grow groundwater friendly crops to reduce the cost of treating its drinking water in the future.
Negotiate Conservation Easements - Buy Land
This strategy would allow land in well recharge areas to remain in private ownership, but the property owners would be paid to allow only groundwater friendly land use practices. For instance, a farmer would agree to only plant crops that could be grown without the use of pesticides or fertilizers, which could leach to groundwater. In return, the farmer would be paid an easement fee of the difference between the value of the crop produced and the value of another crop that could have been grown had pesticides or fertilizers been used.
Conservation easements have been widely used. Use of conservation easements is consistent with recommendations of the Land and Water Resource Management Plan and Open Space Plan adopted in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Excerpts from the Open Space Plan can be found in Appendix CE.
Land in well recharge areas could be purchased by government or land trusts, and be put in a land use that would not contaminate groundwater. This approach is potentially much more expensive than conservation easements. This has been used in Stevens Point and Whiting, with the land maintained as open space or added to the municipal park systems. Municipal well recharge areas are broken down into zones based on potential for contamination of the wells. Land in zones nearest the wells will be highest priority for purchase or conservation easements.
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