Nitrate contamination is endangering Wisconsin’s freshwater drinking supply, creating a public health crisis according to the Great Lakes.org. Exposure to nitrates can be extremely harmful and has been linked to pregnancy complications, cancer and blue baby syndrome, according to The Alliance for the Great Lakes. 

Wisconsin residents are paying the price for this health crisis with higher water costs and predisposed health risks, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Contamination is the result of excess fertilizer and manure pollution, according to the article. There is an estimated excess of 16 million pounds of fertilizer applied to farm fields in 2022 in Wisconsin, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes’ report Nitrates on Tap.

About 90% of nitrate in groundwater comes from application of nitrate fertilizers, according to senior agriculture policy manager Angela Blatt.

This can be runoff from farms and the agriculture industry, as well manure from livestock. In these scenarios nitrate is essential to keep crops and livestock healthy, but the excess is harmful to humans, according the Alliance for the Great Lakes. 

It is crucial to pay attention to the quality of groundwater and continuously check for contaminants because 70% of drinking water comes from groundwater sources, according to water and agriculture program director Sara Walling.

Clean Wisconsin largely focuses on the heavy amounts of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance, or PFAS, in groundwater, according to Walling.

“The disturbing levels of nitrate contamination in ground water have been sidelined because of the importance of addressing and identifying PFAS,” Walling said.

Routinely checking for contaminants is a priority. Many municipal drinking water systems spend a large sum monitoring and keeping water coming into taps clean and safe, according to Walling. 

Nitrate and its contamination within our water supply has remained less obvious the last number of years, according to Wailing.

Levels of nitrate have been increasing since 2013 according to Blatt.

“Nitrate, phosphorus, along with potassium are the three main nutrients that all plants need to grow, to be productive, meet yields and feed us with proper levels of fiber and fuel,” Wailing said. 

It is hard to cut nitrate usage because it is an essential nutrient, necessary for the body’s growth, functioning and maintenance, so it is necessary to monitor its levels, Walling said.

There is an emphasis on proactive approaches to try and mitigate the risk of nitrate loss into ground water, according to Blatt.

One such policy mentioned in the report is a call for statewide well testing programs. This is intended to help offset the cost of testing for homeowners through a streamlined process, according to Blatt.

“There are roughly 800,000 private wells in the state, and currently one third of those private well owners have never tested their wells for nitrate”, Blatt said.

An additional recommendation is to expand the private well compensation program. This program provides compensation to owners of private wells contaminated by substances — such as nitrate, PFAS, certain bacteria and arsenic — in order to help them replace, reconstruct or treat their water supply, according to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Eligibility requirements for this program are restrictive, making it inaccessible for some families. To qualify nitrate contamination must exceed 40 milligrams, per meter, which is four times the safe limit, according to Blatt.

Private well owners are disproportionately affected because they do not have access to state or public funding to treat or test their water supply, according to Walling.

However, on the municipal side, four different public community systems have over $45 million in mitigation dispersed among them, according to Blatt.

Standardization is not required for reporting levels of nitrate, so municipalities must be contacted individually to receive findings and determine where costs are allocated to, according to Blatt.

Another possible solution is going straight to the source.

“We are certainly working with the agriculture industry to identify workable agricultural management practices that can reduce the leaking of nitrogen crop systems into ground water,” Walling said.

Nitrates on Tap provides an objective assessment of the significant consequences of inaction on nitrate contamination. The report outlines specific science based policy recommendations that state lawmakers and agencies can utilize which build on earlier initiatives in order to address and allow Nitrate Contamination. This aims to allow officials to have clear direction in addressing the growing threat to Wisconsin’s drinking water, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

The state legislature blocked authority from regulating agencies making it difficult to propose action, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes. 

But, a recent Supreme Court Ruling determined it is unconstitutional for a legislative committee to prevent state agencies from enforcing rules established under the law, according to Clean Wisconsin.

There is still hope to prevent nitrate contamination from being ongoing and developing into an even more serious case, according to Walling.

“The causes are really out of their [private well owners’] control and out of the control of municipalities,” Walling said.