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In: data centers, Drinking Water, groundwater, PFAS

Data Center bills in the Wisconsin State Legislature

On February 17, 2026 the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Utilities, Technology, and Tourism held a hearing on data center development bills. River Alliance’s Agriculture and Policy Director Mike Tiboris attended the hearing and submitted the following testimony on why our state should pause new data center construction until our leaders fully understand the implications of how industries with extreme energy and water demands will have on our resources.

Chair Bradley and the members of the Committee on Utilities, Technology, and Tourism:

Thank you for holding this hearing for several bills on the emerging issues related to data center development in Wisconsin. River Alliance of Wisconsin has registered neutral on SB 729 and opposed on both SB 843 and AB 840 as written. River Alliance is a statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization that empowers people to protect and restore Wisconsin’s waters at a local level. The organization’s supporters include more than 5,000 individuals and businesses and nearly a hundred local watershed organizations. 

All of these bills recognize that we must thoughtfully confront the sudden construction pressure from a rapidly evolving technology. Our concern is that we do not allow Wisconsin’s water, among our most valuable public assets, to be mortgaged for unproven benefits and without adequate protection. A medium-sized data center consumes as much water as 1000 households per year for cooling (110 million gallons). Rapid and improperly regulated data center construction poses a potentially serious threat to our natural water resources. The benefits to Wisconsin of data center construction are unproven, but the hazards to our water are quite clear. Data centers directly use water to cool servers that generate heat either through evaporative cooling or through the addition of contaminants that can be discharged in wastewater and enter the environment. Further, these facilities may invite the construction of new hydropower facilities on already taxed river systems and cause aging, outdated, facilities to stay online. Often touted as “green”, hydropower operations can cause myriad negative environmental impacts, from preventing fish migrations to reducing water quality and water quantity at critical times of the year, affecting aquatic life and recreation.

Our preference in this moment of uncertainty would be to pause all new data center construction until we can develop appropriate legislative mechanisms for managing its downsides. Legislators’ recently proposed moratorium on data center construction should be used to give the Legislature time to create thoughtful controls that ensure new data centers actually benefit Wisconsinites and do not cause problems we could avoid if we took the time to prepare for them. Our abundant natural water and land resources are an obvious attraction for companies that want to build projects in Wisconsin, but we should be very careful to make sure the benefits are not simply handed to companies to export from the state for their own profit at the cost of damage to an irreplaceable public good and, at best, uncertain employment or tax benefits.

 

SB 729

River Alliance has registered neutral on SB 729. We are supportive of the bill’s emphasis on making sure that data centers pay for the energy that they use and that their usage does not drive up the cost of energy for Wisconsin homeowners. Similarly, it is common sense that such large water users should be required to report on their usage when it accounts for 25 percent or more of the total water usage of all customers for a water utility. Enforcing transparency about usage will help communities, utilities, and municipalities respond appropriately to water demand increases that could have very negative effects on local water sources, ecosystem health, and the costs of water provision.

We support the idea of encouraging data centers to rely on renewable wind and solar energy sources. SB 729 would require that at least 70 percent of the total annual electric energy used by the buildings be derived from renewable resources, as defined under s.16.75(12)(a)4. The definition of “renewable energy” referenced, however, includes hydropower, and we do not support the construction of new hydroelectric generation facilities to power data centers. 

Many people believe that hydropower, which uses dams and gravity to spin electricity generating turbines, is a clean, climate-smart, energy source. This is a misconception. While wind and solar power offer renewable low-carbon energy and are generally cheaper than fossil fuels, hydropower can cause environmental damage. Dams and reservoirs alter river flows, raise water temperature, degrade water quality, increase sedimentation in reservoirs, and prevent migrations of fish and native mussels harming aquatic ecosystems and Wisconsin communities. Reservoirs are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, predominantly methane, an especially potent greenhouse gas, that results from eutrophication and harmful algal blooms.

Again, River Alliance supports the approach that SB 729 takes to create water usage transparency and accountability, to ensure that the costs of new energy and water demand are borne by the data centers and not by other customers, and to encourage the use of renewable energy like wind and solar as power sources. We are concerned that, in its current form, the bill will encourage expansions of hydropower generation that will extensively damage aquatic ecosystems and may be more destructive to the climate than fossil fuel use in some cases.

 

SB 843 and AB 840

The above reasons also underwrite our opposition to both of these bills as written. The bills require that “any renewable energy facility that primarily serves the load of a data center must be located at the site of the data center.” (Section 2. 196.492(2), lines 16-17). Again, using the definition of renewable energy from s. 196.378 (1)(fg), we are concerned this will encourage the construction of new, environmentally damaging, hydropower facilities. Limiting the use of renewable energy to sources constructed on site is unnecessarily restrictive and would likely have the effect of discouraging renewable energy use entirely. Because the bills do not explicitly require that data center owners pay the full cost of their energy use, this will drive up the cost of energy for Wisconsin residents while increasing pollution.

However, the requirements to require reporting to the DNR about annual water usage and to ensure that the costs of reclamation and failure of the facility are borne by the data center owners are sensible. 

We are encouraged by the serious interest the Legislature is taking in managing the environmental consequences of data center construction. Given the likelihood that the industry will expand rapidly in the coming years, we hope this is the beginning of a sustained conversation about how to ensure that the benefits of data centers accrue to Wisconsinites and that these do not come with irreparable harm to our land and water resources.

– Mike Tiboris, Agriculture and Policy Director

 

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The post Data Center bills in the Wisconsin State Legislature appeared first on River Alliance of WI.

Original Article

Blog - River Alliance of WI

Blog - River Alliance of WI

https://wisconsinrivers.org/data-center-bills/

Allison Werner

On:
In: Eric Kastelic, Great Lakes, groundwater, Lucie Carignan, monitoring, pine, remote sensing, Research, ridge, ridge and swale, ridges sanctuary, Steve Loheide, swale, tree core, trees, water levels, wri

How an unusual Door County landscape is helping researchers learn how Great Lake water levels affect groundwater and forests in coastal areas 

Landscapes tell a story. That can be obvious to the casual observer traveling around the state, whether it’s taking a scenic fall drive through the Driftless Area in southwest Wisconsin, exploring the potholes and drumlins of Kettle Moraine State Forest near Milwaukee, or kayaking among the water-etched sea caves off Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands.

To the trained eye, those landscapes also tell a story, but one goes beyond a quick photo and may provide answers to important research questions. University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Steven Loheide, graduate student Eric Kastelic, Freshwater@UW summer students Lucie Carignan and Ella Flattum, and collaborators are focusing their collective scientific gaze on a particular section along Door County’s southeast coast for clues to a decades-old question: How do Great Lakes water level changes affect groundwater and forests along our coasts?

The Ridges Sanctuary is a 1,700-acre nature preserve tucked along the bottom half of Door County as it pokes into Lake Michigan just above the community of Bailey’s Harbor. Initially established in 1937 as Wisconsin’s first land trust, the sanctuary is a National Natural Landmark noted for a rich concentration of rare plants, including 25 species of orchids. What really sets this place apart from other preserves, however, is the 30 or so swales and crescent-shaped ridges that line the sanctuary from west to east.

These are the areas where Loheide, Kastelic, and team have concentrated their efforts. The sandy formations represent former beaches caused by changes in Lake Michigan water levels during the past millennia. Each is peppered with black and white spruce, balsam fir, and white pine. Between these ridges are swales, which are wet, lower areas, each containing their own collection of diverse marsh and bog flora. 

A drone photo of a ridge and swale ecosystem from above, showing parallel strips of forest and wetland next to Lake Michigan.

In ridge and swale ecosystems, forested ridges and marshy wetlands run in long strips parallel to the shore, like here at the Ridges Sanctuary.

 “What we’re interested in is how the Great Lakes and the changing water levels within the Great Lakes affect the ridge and swale ecosystems,” said Loheide. “There’s a tight connection between the surface water, the Great Lakes, and then the groundwater, which is underneath the subsurface but is feeding the wetlands and feeding the forests in these systems.”

Scientists have known for some time that water levels fluctuate in all five Great Lakes. Historically they change not just annually but over several decades with the record high being more than 6 feet higher than the record low. For Loheide, what he and his fellow researchers are most interested in are more recent water level changes.

“On short, seasonal scales, you might have a foot of variability from high water levels in one year to low water levels in that same year,” explained Loheide. “But when you look at it at a longer time frame, we see that there are cycles. For instance, in the early 2000s through about 2012-2013, we were in a low water state. That whole time, there were still ups and downs every year, but we were at low water levels, and then we went from near record lows then to record highs in 2017, 2018, and 2019. That really quick swing is something that we’re interested in.

“There’s always been a lot of variability, but we’re seeing what seems to be sometimes faster changes from low water level conditions to high water conditions, so more extremes.  And we’re actually going through the same thing right now,” said Loheide. “The high-water levels of 4-6 years ago are now dropping to below average water levels on Lake Michigan.”

Those faster water level changes could have greater impact on coastal ecosystems, and that’s where Loheide’s team has zeroed in their research efforts.

“Even since last year, lake levels have gone down about 10 inches. What does that mean for the groundwater system? Are we draining water out of the groundwater system? How much change in storage is there of our groundwater resource, and how does that affect other hydrologic and ecological processes?”

An illustrated cross-section graphic shows how the water from a lake merges with groundwater to form swales between ridges.

Great Lakes water levels impact the groundwater levels within ridge and swale ecosystems, as seen here in a cross-section created by Lucie Carignan.

Not just water and systems may be impacted, Loheide added.  “We’ve been studying trees and groundwater in Wisconsin for over a decade now, and we’ve been surprised by some of the things we’ve learned, that groundwater is used by trees. Even in a wet climate like Wisconsin where we get a lot of rain, we’re seeing that trees, particularly if they’re in sandy soils that drain really quickly, do depend on shallow groundwater, and if they have access to shallow groundwater, they do better.”

Given we know Great Lake levels fluctuate and those levels are connected to our coastal ecosystems, the team is looking at the Ridges and those funky swales lining the landscape to help them sketch out the rest of the story. “Our interest in the swales is knowing that we have lake levels that are driving changes in groundwater levels, how does that affect the ecosystem?” Loheide noted.  “How does that affect tree growth? How does that affect whether the forest might be vulnerable to either drought conditions where there’s limited water availability and the trees don’t have access to shallow groundwater, versus what happens during really high lake stages, and you end up with the roots of the plants being saturated, having low oxygen availability that can be fatal to the trees?”

The team has developed an ecohydrological observatory at The Ridges, which besides the cool name is also a great way to continuously monitor groundwater levels and changes that occur daily as the trees start to use water, from when the sun rises higher in the sky and exerts its considerable influence on the flora to when things start to shut down in the evening.

Loheide’s team, however, is looking beyond daily data. “We’re really hoping to leverage long-term data sets, and that’s coming from the trees themselves. If we core the trees, we can see variability in the annual growth. When conditions are good, when you’re getting the right amount of rain, when groundwater’s at the right level, we see larger growth rings. But, we see narrow growth rings during dry years or years where groundwater is not available, or even when groundwater’s too shallow,” said Loheide. “So that gives us an opportunity to not just have the data we collect during this two-year project, but to have a record that extends over a hundred years with some of these older trees.”

Graduate student Eric Kastelic and undergraduate researcher Lucie Carignan check in on a groundwater monitoring well that they installed at the Ridges Sanctuary, which gives them groundwater level measurements multiple times every hour.

Graduate student Eric Kastelic and undergraduate researcher Lucie Carignan check in on a groundwater monitoring well that they installed at the Ridges Sanctuary, which gives them groundwater level measurements multiple times every hour.

 
Close up of Eric Kastelic's hand holding a pencil-sized tree core.

By taking tree cores of red and white pine trees, the research team can analyze tree growth patterns going back almost 150 years.

The two-year project window Loheide references comes from funding through the Aquatic Science Center’s Water Resources Institute. Additional work was done by Joe Binzley (Hilldale Undergraduate Researcher 2025, UW-Madison) and collaborators from the Ridges Sanctuary, UW-Platteville TREES Lab, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 

Loheide said that the findings his team develops could be used to better understand how extreme changes in water levels impact groundwater and flora not only at the Ridges but also for other areas throughout the Great Lakes.  

“We’re hopeful that we can use remote sensing tools to try to compare other sites, and if satellite data can show us how transpiration or water use might be changing,” Loheide said. “There are new satellites out there that are at fine scale that we might actually be able to see and map out the spatial variability within ridge and swale wetlands, and then also compare among them what the response is. 

“We’re excited about what the future holds.” 

The post The Swale Tale first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/the-swale-tale/

Andrew Savagian

On:
In: artificial intelligence, Drinking Water, epa, Feature Homepage, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, News, PFAS, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Veteran Great Lakes advocate cautions on prioritizing economic development over protecting the environment

Rolling back clean water protection, gutting agencies and defunding science, research and monitoring is a non-starter for the Great Lakes region, says Ann Arbor environmental advocate Laura Rubin.

She was reacting to the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin’s recently released economy-oriented plan for the agency under President Donald Trump.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/veteran-great-lakes-advocate-cautions-prioritizing-economic-development-over-protecting-environment/

Gary Wilson, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: atrazine, Carla Romano, DATCP, Department of Agriculture, groundwater, herbicide, prohibition zone, Sam Brockschmidt, Trade and Consumer Protection
Person wearing a gray shirt, dark pants and a backpack stands facing the camera.
Sam Brockschmidt is the 2024-25 Wisconsin Water Resources Science-Policy Fellow. Contributed photo.

 

The 1980s called, they want to check in on their atrazine-use policy.

While it can feel retro to talk about this herbicide that captured Wisconsin headlines over four decades ago, it remains a highly relevant topic in 2024.

Sam Brockschmidt is eager to explore that relevancy through a brand-new Wisconsin Water Resources Science-Policy Fellowship focused on evaluating existing atrazine data, gathering new data and analyzing current restrictions on atrazine use in parts of the state known as prohibition areas. In short, he said he will attempt to, “figure out if we have been improving groundwater quality in a comprehensive way.”

Groundwater monitoring in the 1980s and ‘90s found atrazine, used for killing weeds in farmers’ fields, was responsible for groundwater and drinking water contamination. In March 1991, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection enacted its first restrictions on atrazine use, establishing an atrazine management area and six prohibition areas. That initial approach has now evolved into outright prohibition areas, which have grown to 101, representing about 1.2 million acres. These areas where no atrazine can be applied on corn and other crops are located primarily in central and southern Wisconsin but do exist elsewhere. In fact, 35 out of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have a prohibition area.

Brockschmidt’s project will quantify how a prohibition area is effective and how it’s not and will explore implications of both of those conditions.

If an area is effective, that could prompt calls to lift the restrictions. That, said Brockschmidt, is tricky. “Even if the prohibition area seems to be working, it’s not necessarily that we’ve solved the problem. Because the prohibition area is keeping the atrazine concentration in check, but if we went back to the way that things were before the prohibition area, we might just go back to the same problem we’ve had before where so much atrazine was getting into our drinking water. It’s a very complicated issue that this project is tackling. But step one is just figuring out what data we have and are these prohibition areas actually effective.”

On the flipside, an ineffective zone is likely that way due to a multitude of factors. For example, he noted,  “You’d think that if you stopped using atrazine in a place and then you keep testing your groundwater eventually your groundwater will have lower concentrations.” However, he cited one of Mother Nature’s maxims: water goes wherever it likes and doesn’t respect an artificial boundary like a prohibition zone.

“You might have a prohibition area on one side of the road and then on the other side of the road they’re just free to use as much atrazine as they want within the scope of the current regulations on it. So, the atrazine that is applied outside of the prohibition areas may get into prohibition areas. It all has to do with soil type and the hydrogeology of the subsurface,” he said.

Earlier this month Brockschmidt, who has a master’s degree in geosciences from UW-Madison, began his one-year fellowship that is sponsored by DATCP and the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute. “This is our first time creating such a position,” said Carla Romano, groundwater specialist with DATCP. “We believe that partnering with a university is an excellent way to attract individuals interested in research careers with significant societal impact. This project requires someone who is dedicated to such a path, and a university partnership is the perfect avenue to find and nurture this talent.”

For his part, Brockschmidt said the opportunity will afford him the chance to evaluate the two long-term paths he faces. At the fellowship’s conclusion, he will either pursue a career in a state agency or one in academia.

In the meantime, he said one appealing aspect of this fellowship is the chance to engage with people about atrazine. It’s a product that is useful in agriculture. It is relatively inexpensive and highly effective, which could improve crop yields and increase income. But it does have deleterious effects on the water people drink. “Part of the project is that I’m going to be going out and collecting new samples of people’s drinking water. I’ll be at their homes so I’m going to be interacting with people, maybe learning about them and writing their stories of how these prohibition areas impact them,” said Brockschmidt. “I’m really excited to get to know some people here in Wisconsin and learn what their perspectives are from the other side of these regulations.”

Sam Brockschmidt conducting groundwater field work during a previous project. Contributed photo.

He will also enjoy free time in the coming year, engaging in outdoor pursuits like camping and hiking. In fact, immediately before heading to the Madison headquarters of DATCP where he will be stationed, Brockschmidt slingshot from a 10-day hiking trip in Japan, to an overnight in Chicago and then the following day departed for Scotland on a college-sponsored trip. In that compressed time span, he hiked divergent terrains,  both in the name of reveling in the outdoors.

Smiling person standing in front of a lake.
Standing at the summit of Mount Hiei this spring, Sam Brockschmidt enjoyed the view after a vigorous hike. Contributed photo.
The post Brand-new fellowship to assess atrazine-use policy first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/brand-new-fellowship-to-assess-atrazine-use-policy/

Moira Harrington

On:
In: Christy Remucal, groundwater, Groundwater Coordinating Council, Jennifer Hauxwell, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Water Resources Research Act

Water with a green-brown tint.

The age of Earth’s water has been estimated at 4.5 billion years. While 60 pales in comparison to that astounding age, the work of the National Institutes for Water Resources network — celebrating its sexennial anniversary in 2024 — is critical for the resource’s stewardship.

On July 17, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Water Resources Research Act to establish a water resources research institute in each state and Puerto Rico. The program was later expanded to include the District of Columbia, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“The Congress has found that we have entered a period in which acute water shortages are hampering our industries, our agriculture, our recreation and our individual health and happiness,” Johnson said.

The 54 institutes are charged with undertaking multidisciplinary water research. They are a federal-state partnership, with federal funds coming through the U.S. Geological Survey and providing dollars to support two tracks, a core grant to each individual program and also a pot of money to annually use for national research competitions to address timely challenges.

In Wisconsin, the state’s statutorily funded Groundwater Coordinating Council also supports the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute. The WRI is a program of the Universities of Wisconsin and is housed on the flagship campus in Madison.

At the time of the centers’ enactment, Johnson’s statement continued, “The new centers will be concerned with municipal and regional, as well as national water problems. Their ready accessibility to state and local officials will permit each problem to be attacked on an individual basis, the only way in which complex characteristics of each water deficiency can be resolved.” Johnson also noted that centers, such as Wisconsin’s, “will enlist the intellectual power of universities and research institutes in a nationwide effort to conserve and utilize our water resources for the common benefit.”

Decades later, WRI continues to embody those 1964 presidential words. It has funded more than 140 research projects, including marquee issues like naturally occurring radium in southeastern Wisconsin. WRI research on those aquifers informed the first-ever binational approval of Great Lakes water withdrawals by a community outside of the basin. Waukesha secured that permission in 2016 because its own supplies were dwindling and contaminated.

Other WRI work has explored the long-term balance between water users in the Central Sands Region of Wisconsin. The scarcity of water in the area creates a tug between those wishing to use it for agriculture and those seeing reduced surface water levels, meaning sporting and recreational opportunities could be compromised.

Person carrying equipment and walking through green field.
A researcher studies groundwater in Wisconsin’s Central Sands Region. Photo: Bonnie Willison.

More contemporary research priorities have been examining PFAS in the state’s waters, the effect of climate change on resources and assessing the extent and impact of pathogens in drinking water.

WRI Associate Director Jennifer Hauxwell said, “In a state so enriched with water, we have no shortage of water challenges, including water quality challenges statewide due to excessive nutrients or contaminants, water quantity challenges related to scarcity in some parts of the state and flooding in other parts. WRI’s investment in research helps us better identify and understand these challenges and evaluate management solutions to these challenges. We have a long history of working closely with Wisconsin communities to address their challenges and to connect researchers to real-world Wisconsin water issues.

“We are so fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve as this bridge for the past 60 years and look forward to the next 60,” she concluded.

WRI also recruits and trains the next generation of water leaders. Throughout its history, more than 1,250 students have been trained by working on research projects.

Further, WRI has established a transformative fellowship program. It partners with state agencies to mentor post-graduates who provide cutting-edge knowledge while gaining skills early in their careers. One of the current fellows is Sarah Gravlee. She works in water science policy for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. She said, “I like working at the intersection between water and public health. I’ve enjoyed fielding questions from the public about water contaminants, sitting in on meetings about newly identified water contamination, and assisting in projects focusing on reducing Wisconsin’s environmental health hazards. I’ve learned a lot.”

Also learning a lot have been the three, and counting, cohorts of undergraduate summer research scholars. It’s a program called the Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities and links researchers who have been funded through WRI, and other grant programs, to competitively selected students from across the nation.

Closeup of smiling person wearing green clothing.
Interim Director Christy Remucal.

“We are incredibly proud of the students and the work supported by WRI these past 60 years. At the same time, we know that water issues remain critical throughout the state. We look forward to supporting innovative and impactful research in Wisconsin,” WRI Interim Director Christy Remucal said.

The post Celebrating WRI’s 60th anniversary year first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/celebrating-wris-60th-anniversary-year/

Moira Harrington

On:
In: Drinking Water, Geogenic contaminants, groundwater, Matt Ginder-Vogel, Midwest Cambrian Ordovician Aquifer System, radium

Pumped from the vast layers of bedrock beneath our feet, groundwater is the source of drinking water for two-thirds of people living in Wisconsin. According to geochemist Matt Ginder-Vogel, what’s in that water is largely influenced by what’s in the rock.

A headshot of Matt Ginder-Vogel
Matt Ginder-Vogel is researching geogenic contaminants in public wells across Wisconsin. Photo credit: UW–Madison Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

“Groundwater is not a lake underneath the ground. It’s water that’s in tiny pore spaces in the rock,” said Ginder-Vogel, an associate professor in the UW–Madison Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “So, it really interacts with the rocks around it.”

Under the right conditions, this interaction can cause naturally occurring or “geogenic” contaminants—like radium, arsenic, uranium and manganese—to leach from bedrock into groundwater.

Just where geogenic contamination is occurring in the state and how are the questions Ginder-Vogel and his team of graduate students are hoping to answer in new research funded by the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute.

Savannah Finley and Juliet Ramey-Lariviere are both graduate students working on the project. They’re digging through drinking water quality data from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to identify municipal wells with high levels of contaminants. The goal is to provide a snapshot of geogenic contamination across the state so that folks know what’s in their water.

“We want to give a health progress report of our overall aquifer and say—here’s what we have. Here are the contaminants that we’re looking at,” said Finley.

 

A headshot of Juliet Ramey-Lariviere
Juliet Ramey-Lariviere. Submitted photo.
A headshot of Savannah Finley.
Savannah Finley. Submitted photo.

She and Ramey-Lariviere are working on a map that will show contaminant hotspots and the underlying bedrock in those locations to determine if there is a relationship between the two.

“The hope is, once we have this data, to lay it all out on top of one another and look at the different bedrock formations and hopefully try to tie in the bedrock formation with the different contaminants that we’re seeing,” said Finley.

The team is focused on public wells in the Midwestern Cambrian Ordovician Aquifer System, a horseshoe-shaped region that roughly occupies the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin. Once wells are identified, they’ll collect both water and rock samples and begin experiments in the lab, which will reveal the amount of contamination leaching from the samples and how fast it’s occurring.

“We’ll be taking rock sections and grinding them up and looking to see what comes off the rocks,” said Ginder-Vogel. “You expose them to water and see what partitions into the water. Then you can manipulate the conditions of water to release other contaminants.”

The team will then use these findings to create a model that identifies hotspots around the state prone to geogenic contamination. Ginder-Vogel hopes the model will raise awareness of the problem even if water utilities aren’t currently experiencing issues. Concentrations of naturally occurring contaminants can change over time. Take, for example, the city of Waukesha.

“[Waukesha] didn’t always have troubles with radium. But when they started pumping more groundwater—and the Chicago suburbs were also pumping more groundwater and were changing the flow path of the water—[Waukesha] started to have more and more trouble with radium,” said Ginder-Vogel.

A map of Wisconsin showing wells tested for radium and those that exceed drinking water standards. Wells that exceed standards are concentrated in the eastern half of the state.
A map of Wisconsin showing wells tested for radium and those with drinking water that exceeds the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) standard set by the EPA. Wells exceeding MCL are concentrated in eastern Wisconsin. Image credit: Savannah Finley and Juliet Ramey-Lariviere

“Once you’ve seen that, you can’t help but ask, is it happening with other things, other naturally occurring contaminants like arsenic?”

Ginder-Vogel said increased water use is what’s driving the changing concentrations. Pumping more water pulls groundwater through the aquifer in different ways and allows water to interact with bedrock it hadn’t before, picking up new contaminants.

“People who think about groundwater often think about it being this unchanging pool beneath the ground, but with all the water that we use and the way we move water around right now, there’s the possibility for lots of change,” he said.

Unfortunately for water utilities dealing with high levels of geogenic contaminants, the solution isn’t an easy or cheap one. Geogenic contaminants don’t biodegrade or go away. “They’re metals,” said Ginder-Vogel. “You can’t destroy them and remediate them. You can only move them from one place to another.”

One solution is to install treatment systems that remove contaminants from drinking water. It’s an expensive option, however, and small municipalities may not have the resources to support such an endeavor. Water utilities may also choose to rebuild a well in such a way that it avoids rock formations with high amounts of contaminants.

Ginder-Vogel’s hope is that the team’s research helps municipalities develop a plan before geogenic contamination becomes a problem. While they can’t change the bedrock, they can be strategic about how they pump water.

Said Ginder-Vogel, “We’re trying to be smart about our water resources.”

The post Groundwater on the rocks: WRI-funded research will map naturally occurring contaminants in public wells across Wisconsin first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/groundwater-on-the-rocks-wri-funded-research-will-map-naturally-occurring-contaminants-in-public-wells-across-wisconsin/

Jenna Mertz

On:
In: Agriculture, Eric Kastelic, flooding, groundwater, land use, loheide, monitoring, steve, well, wri

 

Researcher Steve Loheide spent much of his childhood on the banks of Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes in northern Dane County, Wisconsin. “I used to ride my bike between Fish Lake and Mud Lake. And they’re now one lake – they’re combined,” says Loheide.

Water levels in Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes have fluctuated drastically for at least a century. In his office, Loheide keeps a copy of a 1914 newspaper clipping titled “Crystal Lake, dried up, again filling with water.” According to the article, Crystal Lake dried up in the early 1900s and farmers started growing crops on the former lake bottom. But by 1914, water was starting to return.

Today, the lake is overflowing its banks, causing destruction of homes, businesses and crop land. During Loheide’s lifetime, he has witnessed a 17 foot increase in the water level in Fish Lake. This experience inspired Loheide, now an ecohydrology professor at UW-Madison’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, to embark on a research project to understand why groundwater flooding is plaguing these lakes and what we can do about it.

Aerial photo of a flooded lake.
Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes are located in the upper Yahara watershed in South Central Wisconsin.

“Groundwater flooding is perhaps a little bit more insidious” than surface water flooding, Loheide said. The groundwater flooding at these internally drained basin lakes is caused by a slowly rising water table. What is causing the water table to rise? Loheide and his collaborators professor emeritus Ken Potter and Ph.D. student Eric Kastelic ask that question in their project Biomanipulation of Groundwater Flooding, funded by the Wisconsin Water Resources Institute.

According to Kastelic, groundwater flooding in the area is likely due to multiple factors, like changes in both precipitation and land use over the last 100 years. “This part of Wisconsin used to predominately be tallgrass prairie and oak savanna,” said Kastelic. A century ago, settlers transitioned the landscape to shallow-rooted row crop agriculture. 

Loheide and Kastelic hypothesize that this transition from deep-rooted to shallow-rooted plants, paired with climate change, has affected the water table. As part of the project, the team will be documenting the changing water table and creating a model to study the feedbacks between land use change and climate change in hydrologic systems. “We want to model this system and determine if we had more trees on the landscape, would we see less groundwater flooding?” says Loheide.

The research team hopes the data can help communities, like those surrounding Crystal, Fish and Mud lakes, build resilient landscapes. If the research shows that large-scale tree plantings could be a viable solution to groundwater flooding in internally drained basins, Loheide could see this being explored as a strategy to help vulnerable communities.

Watch the new video here.

The post Could trees prevent groundwater flooding? [New video] first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/groundwater-flooding/

Bonnie Willison

On:
In: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Chicago, Collaboration, Drinking Water, groundwater, Illinois, infrastructure, Lake Michigan, Latest News, News
Chicago Suburbs, Running Out of Water, Will Tap Lake Michigan

By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/chicago-suburbs-water-tap-lake-michigan/

Circle of Blue

On:
In: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Collaboration, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Latest News, Michigan, News, PFAS, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Pentagon to address PFAS at Wurtsmith base near Oscoda

By Mike Wilkinson, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

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Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/08/pentagon-address-pfas-wurtsmith-base-oscoda/

Bridge Michigan

On:
In: AP, forever chemicals, Forever Chemicals Featured, government, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Latest News, News, PFAS, Policy, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, The States, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Wisconsin
Evers administration relaunches efforts to limit PFAS

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration is trying again to limit the levels of a group of chemicals known as PFAS in Wisconsin’s groundwater.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that Evers authorized the Department of Natural Resources last week to begin work on administrative rules establishing limits.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/ap-evers-administration-efforts-limit-pfas/

The Associated Press

On:
In: Chicago, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Illinois, News, Research, Data and Technology, science, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Coal ash 101: Everything you need to know about this toxic waste

As coal plants close nationwide, they leave behind nearly a billion tons of toxic coal ash. The Medill School of Journalism spent months investigating the coal ash threat and how regulators, companies and environmental groups are handling it.

Here are the basics that will help you understand this looming threat:

What is Coal Ash?

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/coal-ash-101/

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan

On:
In: Agriculture, bitcoin, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, cryptocurrency, Environmental Justice, epa, Equity and Environmental Justice, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, industry, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Mining, New York, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Recreation and Tourism, Science, Technology, Research, Tourism, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, wells
In the Finger Lakes, a bitcoin mining plant billed as ‘green’ has a dirty coal ash problem

The village of Dresden is nestled amid charming vineyards and the placid blue waters of Seneca Lake, the largest of Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes. 

Wineries, breweries, dairy farms, and state parks dot the lake’s shoreline, making it a picture-perfect vacation destination.

But for local residents, the three auburn-colored smokestacks of Greenidge Generation’s plant towering above the trees are an unnerving reminder that their natural resources are at risk.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/bitcoin-mining-plant-dirty-coal-ash-problem/

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan

On:
In: AP, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, infrastructure, News, PFAS, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, The States, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Wisconsin
Evers lashes out at conservatives over PFAS standards

By Todd Richmond, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Thursday at conservative members of the Department of Natural Resources policy board for refusing to set limits on a group of chemicals known as PFAS in Wisconsin’s groundwater.

The board in February adopted limits for drinking water and surface water but rejected the Department of Natural Resources’ recommendations to impose a 20 parts per trillion limit for groundwater after conservative board members voiced concerns about the cost of replacing or remediating wells with contamination that exceeds that bench mark.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/evers-conservatives-pfas-standards/

The Associated Press

On:
In: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Drinking Water, Feature Homepage, groundwater, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Protect, water
Legislation to be introduced to restrict water withdrawals for bottled water and increase protections for groundwater

By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/legislation-bottled-water-protections-groundwater/

Michigan Radio

On:
In: Books, Books, Authors, Art and Music, Feature Homepage, groundwater, Latest News, Michigan, News, water diversions, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Great Lakes for Sale: Veteran activist and author puts renewed spotlight on diverting Great Lakes water

Tracking Michigan’s environmental issues has been a long, rewarding and at times arduous undertaking for Dave Dempsey.  

He was an environment adviser to former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard in the 1980s and now provides policy advice to the Traverse City non-profit For Love of Water. In between were stops at the Michigan Environmental Council and the International Joint Commission.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/12/great-lakes-veteran-activist-author/

Gary Wilson

On:
In: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Drinking Water, groundwater, Latest News, Michigan, News
Company formerly known as Nestle drops water withdrawal permit

By Sophia Kalakailo, Michigan Radio

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/nestle-water-withdrawal-permit/

Michigan Radio

On:
In: Drinking Water, groundwater, groundwater protection, James Price, source water protection, water treatment

Feb. 2, 2021

By Jennifer A. Smith

It can be easy to take clean drinking water for granted; we turn on our taps and simply expect it to be there. At the same time, safe water is priceless. Yet putting a price on water is just what environmental economist James Price is doing as part of a University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute-funded study. Specifically, Price is comparing the relative costs of protecting groundwater at it source versus treating that water at a plant.

Dr. James Price (submitted photo).

“The overarching objective here is to understand the relationship between source water quality and the cost of treating drinking water,” said Price, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences.

This work will help groundwater community water systems in Wisconsin make smart, cost-effective decisions.

Over the course of his two-year study, which is in its early stages, Price will consider both short-term costs at treatment plants (such as labor and chemicals needed for water treatment) and long-term costs (like capital expenses). He’ll also factor in the connections between source water quality and the choice of specific treatment technologies.

Much of the data needed for Price’s analysis is publicly available, but it still needs to be compiled from various sources and reformatted in a way that will let him run his analyses. “The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has a great data set on water treatment costs… and then the Wisconsin DNR has some information on source water quality,” he said.

Francesca Sanchez, a graduate student in the professional master’s degree track at the School of Freshwater Sciences, is aiding in the data cleanup that will make the project possible. That data may be supplemented by an internet-based survey sent to specific contacts at water treatment plants.

The study appears to be the first of its kind looking solely at groundwater (other cost-related studies on drinking water have looked at surface water, or a combination of surface and groundwater).

Groundwater is an important resource in Wisconsin; seven in 10 people in the state depend on it for their water supply. (Photo: Simon Kadula from Pixabay)

Groundwater is abundant in Wisconsin and it is a critical resource: seven in 10 Wisconsinites and 97 percent of the state’s inland communities depend on groundwater for their water supply.

Price is relatively new to Wisconsin, having arrived at UW-Milwaukee in mid-2019. Previously, he did a postdoctoral fellowship at Brock University in Ontario, where he worked on a project that was somewhat similar but not focused on groundwater. That project looked at the relationship between the cost of treating drinking water in Canada and turbidity levels driven by forest fires.

Then, he moved on the Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati and looked at different land uses around well heads, source water intake and their effects on water treatment costs. Study results suggest that forestland is associated with lower treatment costs, while agricultural and urban land are associated with higher costs.

Being able to incorporate capital costs in his current WRI-funded project will offer a new angle, said Price. Few prior studies have had the information needed to factor in those costs. He’s also hoping to look at a wider range of contaminants than many prior studies have.

The end result should be actionable information for local water providers in Wisconsin. “From a community water provider’s perspective, their goal is to provide clean water at an affordable price, and so they need to consider the relative costs and benefits of treating in-plant versus protecting water at the source,” he said. “I imagine that this information will be of interest to water providers who are considering source water protection, and they’ll be interested in what kind of benefit that might mean long-term, down the road.”

The post UW-Milwaukee researcher will help water utilities make cost-conscious decisions first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release – WRI

News Release – WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/uw-milwaukee-researcher-will-help-water-utilities-make-cost-conscious-decisions/

Jennifer Smith

On:
In: Drinking Water, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Indiana, indigenous communities, Latest News, Lead, News, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Wisconsin
Drinking Water News Roundup: Wisconsin wells contaminated by sewage, First Nations boil advisories, lead pipes

From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.

Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.

Click on the headline to read the full story:

Indiana:

  • EPA Installing Monitors to Investigate City’s Tainted Water Plume – Kokomo Tribune

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to install six groundwater monitoring wells to investigate the contaminated water plume beneath much of Kokomo.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/drinking-water-wisconsin-wells-septic-first-nations-lead-pipes/

Grace Dempsey

On:
In: Eric Roden, groundwater, Jay Zambito, Lisa Haas, Matthew Ginder-Vogel, pyrite, Trempealeau County, Tunnel City Group, Wonewoc Formation

July 16, 2020

By Jennifer A. Smith

Pyrite, the mineral commonly known as fools’ gold for its luster and yellowish hue, can be found in the sandstone formations of Wisconsin, including in Trempealeau County.

Water Resources Institute-funded researchers are now examining what happens when that pyrite meets oxygen and microbes deep below the surface, particularly at circumneutral pH, a situation that has not been well understood up to this point. This intermingling could affect groundwater quality.

The research team’s two-year project (“Microbially mediated oxidation of trace element-bearing sulfide minerals in sandstones of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin”) began in summer 2019.

The team consists of University of Wisconsin-Madison professors Eric Roden and Matt Ginder-Vogel, along with geoscience graduate student Lisa Haas and Beloit College professor Jay Zambito.

Zambito was formerly with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and, while there, worked on an earlier WRI-funded study with hydrogeologist Mike Parsen (also at the survey) that established some of the basis for the current study in terms of the presence of pyrite in two geologic units.

Haas and Roden visit a sand mine in Trempealeau County to collect freshly excavated Wonewoc sand and Tunnel City overburden for microcosm experiments. They are discussing the thin, intermittent clay sequences of the Wonewoc Formation. (Photo: Lisa Kamal)

The current study focuses on material found in the Tunnel City Group and Wonewoc Formation. While these rock units underlie much of the state, in Trempealeau County they are close to, or exposed at, the land surface and, depending on the amount of oxygen in the subsurface, have been observed to possess a notable amount of pyrite.

Roden described it: “In these sandstone formations, the pyrite is present in a state that you might call disseminated; it’s basically spread throughout the aquifer sand,” with the distributions varying in size and precise location.

What happens is that “when the pyrite in the sandstone is exposed to oxygen in groundwater, it reacts with the oxygen and that causes two things. One is that the mineral gets destroyed, if you will. It becomes oxidized,” he said. That results in a lowering of the groundwater’s pH. In turn, that increased acidity can lead to the release of toxic trace elements into the groundwater—things such as iron, arsenic, cadmium, zinc and lead—that have the potential to negatively affect groundwater quality.

The researchers believe this reaction is being sped up by the presence of microbes deep below the surface. “We’ve been working with the possibility that microbes, through their metabolism, can accelerate the reaction of oxygen with pyrite—and this is what’s crucial—at neutral pH,” said Roden.

Ginder-Vogel summarized, “It’s the microbes, water and minerals, and it’s this really interesting interface that is super dynamic and constantly changing. It’s really interesting from a broad groundwater perspective.”

The role of frac sand mining

The study bears a connection to industrial sand mining, also called frac sand mining, in this part of the state. When companies scrape off material known as “overburden”—in this instance, the Tunnel City Group rock—they set it aside in order to get to the sand (here, the Wonewoc Formation) they seek underneath. They later use the excavated overburden and low-quality sand for reclamation. However, the geologic material that was isolated in the subsurface is now disturbed and exposed to atmospheric levels of oxygen and rain at land surface. If pyrite was present in the rock, it will oxidize.

The team will examine whether this excavation and piling of materials help lead to the release of trace elements as a result of pyrite oxidation, which could have implications for the water quality of homeowners in the area. In experiments, they are working with collected samples of overburden and non-valuable geologic material and will be able to compare those with material collected from rock core of the geologic units of interest.

Haas, the graduate student, is running the lab experiments. A native of Mount Horeb, she completed her bachelor’s degree in the geoscience department in 2016 and then spent a few years with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey before beginning graduate school. As an undergraduate, she served as a research assistant to Zambito and Parsen on the earlier, related study.

For the current project, she is wrapping up the first set of experiments capturing pyrite oxidation and subsequent metal release from subsurface rock samples of the Tunnel City Group and Wonewoc Formation in unfiltered groundwater samples with the native aquifer microorganisms—the microorganisms thought to be accelerating the pyrite oxidation reaction.

Four vials contain pulverized Wonewoc Formation rock, with a natural abundance of pyrite, in groundwater. The vials with red tape are the abiotic, or killed, controls. The live microcosms (without red tape) were sterilized and then inoculated with groundwater with live aquifer microorganisms. After 213 days following the start of the experiment, enough pyrite in the live microcosms oxidized to render the groundwater acidic (pH ~4). However, minimal pyrite was oxidized in the abiotic microcosms and the solution stayed circumneutral (pH ~8.5). (Photo: Lisa Haas)

As Haas described the process, “What we did is collect groundwater with some of those native microorganisms, and I put them in a vial and monitored chemical compounds that are produced as a result of this mineral dissolving and found that, with the native microbial communities, pyrite will dissolve faster than abiotically. So microorganisms are…significant drivers to this reaction.”

The next set of experiments will investigate pyrite oxidation in Tunnel City Group overburden and unprocessed sand from the Wonewoc Formation as described previously.

A kind of universality

While this experimental, analytical study is not designed to survey impacts to groundwater or surface water in Trempealeau County, it lays a foundation for possible future work.

“Our findings have a kind of universality,” said Roden. “Microbes are everywhere. And whatever we find, I can guarantee that that would apply in other environments where the lithology and also the hydrology were similar… All the details of what happens where on the landscape are determined by geology, but the microbes and the chemistry are always there.”

Ginder-Vogel echoed that thought: “These are reactions that are occurring everywhere. [Frac sand] mining may accelerate some of the reactions, and that’s where fundamental types of science—and what Eric and I do—comes in. We can understand these reactions and start to think about what types of processes might push them one way or push them another way, and then bring in some smart hydrologists to help us model what actually happens.”

The post Research on pyrite oxidation and native microorganisms has implications for groundwater quality in western Wisconsin first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release – WRI

News Release – WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/pyrite-oxidation-in-western-wi/

Jennifer Smith

On:
In: Barron County, Brian Mahoney, groundwater, Mud Lake, phosphorus, Sarah Vitale, UW-Eau Claire

March 27, 2020

By Jennifer A. Smith

Unsightly and potentially toxic algal blooms have grabbed headlines in Wisconsin. Such blooms are driven by excessive levels of phosphorus or other nutrients. This can result in eutrophication, a process in which oxygen becomes depleted from a body of water, causing ill effects for fish and other aquatic life—and harming human activities like tourism and commercial fishing.

While agricultural runoff is a frequent source of excess phosphorus, research funded by the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI) looks at a complex example in western Wisconsin where the answers are not so clear.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire are investigating the possibility that naturally occurring phosphorus deep in the aquifer is the driver behind elevated levels of phosphorus in both surface water and groundwater. The study is regional and includes a case study focused on the Mud Lake area in Barron County, about 45 miles north of Eau Claire.

The study’s principal investigators are Assistant Professor Sarah Vitale and Professor J. Brian Mahoney, both of the UW-Eau Claire geology department. They received funding in WRI’s 2019-20 cycle for the study assessing the source and mobility of phosphorus in the hydrologic system in western Wisconsin. Joining them as a collaborator is Anna Baker, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Upper Midwest Water Science Center.

Five UW-Eau Claire geology majors are gaining valuable hands-on experience by assisting the research team with fieldwork, collecting and interpreting data, and giving presentations at professional meetings.

UW-Eau Claire students Chloe Malin and Jonah Gagnon install a mini well in Mud Lake for the 2018 field season. (Submitted photo)

In fact, three of those undergraduates—Emily Finger, Evan Lundeen and Jacob Erickson— had a scientific poster accepted to the annual “Posters on the Hill” event hosted by the Council on Undergraduate Research in Washington, D.C. While the April 2020 event has since been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the students’ selection to present their research to members of Congress and their staffers remains a badge of honor.

And before state travel restrictions were in effect, Mahoney and some of his students presented their work at a “Research in the Rotunda” poster session in the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Building on earlier work to address “red flags”

While the WRI-funded portion of this project began in summer 2019, the work had its beginnings three years earlier.

Said Vitale of her colleague, Mahoney: “Brian initially started the foundations of this project in 2016. He started having students look at water quality in western Wisconsin because there was a lot of concern over what the increase in silica sand mining would do to water quality in this part of the state.”

At the time, Mahoney and his students analyzed water from a variety of sources, like municipal wells and streams. They were surprised to find a large amount of phosphorus in both groundwater and surface water in the area.

“That stood out as a really big red flag, because everybody says there’s not supposed to be phosphorus in groundwater. It’s just always been assumed it will absorb onto sediment surfaces—and so the fact that there were really high concentrations of phosphorus in groundwater led to this project’s current form,” said Vitale.

This sparked curiosity about possible natural sources of phosphorus and how that phosphorus might be moving through the system.

In 2018, Vitale and Mahoney began a case study investigating groundwater discharge into Mud Lake, a lake known to have eutrophication problems. “The way we wrote this [WRI] proposal was to help continue the investigation. It’s been able to fund a second season of investigation for Mud Lake, as well as continued investigation of regional water quality.”

Vitale and her collaborators plan to use the funding to draw conclusions about where naturally occurring phosphorus is coming from.

Summarized Vitale, “We hope to wrap up the regional investigation and to really constrain which aquifers seem to be the biggest problem. Where is phosphorus concentrated the most in different aquifers? And in these deeper aquifers, the phosphorus is probably sourced from the rock itself, so which rocks are the main contributors to that?”

UW-Eau Claire student Jacob Erickson, a UW Water Research Fellow, prepares to collect a water sample from a mini well at Mud Lake. (Submitted photo)

The team’s WRI funding runs through June 2020. Other funds supporting this work have come from UW-Eau Claire’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. In addition, backing from the UW System Water Research Fellowship Program has allowed the project to expand to Lake Altoona in Eau Claire County.

The team has also recently been awarded a fiscal year 2021 grant from the State of Wisconsin Groundwater Research and Monitoring Program (for “Source to sink evaluation of phosphorus in the hydrologic system in Wisconsin: Implications for lake eutrophication”).

Three experts, working together

Vitale, Mahoney and Baker all bring different areas of expertise to the study. Vitale is a hydrogeologist who specializes in aquifer flow characterization (how water moves through various types of geology). Mahoney brings a background in rock chemistry, and so his primary focus is on understanding what the chemistry of the geology looks like and the likelihood of its influencing the water quality.

Baker’s primary expertise is in phosphorus migration through sediment transport. Because phosphorus does migrate through sediment runoff and other surface processes, Baker is helping the team understand, in Vitale’s words, “What do we need to look at to understand which components of this might be the water side, and which components might be the sediment influence? Anna is bringing that nutrient-loading background.”

Last spring, Vitale shared some results from this project at the meeting of the American Water Resources Association—Wisconsin Section. As the research progress, findings are also being shared with key stakeholders like the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Geological Survey, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, and organizations local to the Eau Claire area.

Original Article

News Release – WRI

News Release – WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/uw-eau-claire-research-untangles-complex-phosphorus-issue/

Jennifer Smith

On:
In: groundwater, salt, Water quality

Jan. 9, 2020

By Jennifer A. Smith

Too much salt is never a good thing—whether on your dinner plate or on sidewalks, driveways and roads during a long Wisconsin winter.

Students walk across a slushy UW-Madison campus. When dissolved, salt will go wherever the water goes. (Image: still from video by Bonnie Willison)

When that salt dissolves on paved surfaces, it goes anywhere the water goes, making its way from storm drains into lakes and other waterbodies. That salt runoff increases the concentration of salt in our waters, affecting not only surface water but also groundwater (the source of drinking water for most Wisconsinites).

Thanks to a new video (two, actually), Wisconsinites can brush up on their salt smarts. The videos were backed by a group of partners that included the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute, UW-Madison, UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Wisconsin Salt Wise and the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District.

A five-minute video is aimed at general audiences, offering tips on how to apply de-icing products most effectively, depending on the air temperature, pavement temperature and type of product. The amount of salt needed to be effective may be less than you think! For example, just one coffee mug full of salt can treat a 20-foot driveway or 10 sidewalk squares.

A longer, ten-minute version of the video was designed for UW-Madison maintenance staff, who work tirelessly throughout the winter to keep the campus a safe place.

As the video notes, the Wisconsin Salt Wise website has a product application calculator that can help take the guesswork out of this task.

Abigail Ernst, who completed her master’s degree in water resources management at UW-Madison in December 2019, worked on the videos’ content and appears onscreen along with fellow water resources student Tristyn Forget. The videos were part of Ernst’s practicum for her degree. As she noted, this project grew out of stakeholder needs. While UW-Madison custodial staff strive to be mindful of salt use, they also knew it was an area for improvement and ongoing staff training.

Said Ernst, “One of the most rewarding parts of producing this video was the wide variety of people I got to collaborate with. I enjoyed working closely with the custodial department, specifically Kris Ackerbauer, Steve Heitz, Brad Marta and John Brixy. They are such a welcoming and accommodating group. I was so happy we could develop a training video that was primarily driven by their wants and needs.”

Abigail Ernst demonstrates proper salting procedure in the video. (Image: still from video by Bonnie Willison)

While translations of the longer video are still in progress, eventually it will be captioned in Tibetan, Hmong, Spanish and Nepali—which, along with English, are the most common languages spoken by UW maintenance staff.

Bonnie Willison, video producer for the Water Resources Institute and Wisconsin Sea Grant, worked with Ernst and other collaborators to bring the content to life in a concise and compelling way.

Both videos bring science and practical tips together to address what Hilary Dugan, a UW-Madison assistant professor of integrative biology interviewed in the videos, stresses is a solvable problem.

By brushing up on our winter knowledge, we can all do our part to promote public safety (after all, no one wants to wipe out on the sidewalk!) while protecting our freshwater resources.

Original Article

News Release – WRI

News Release – WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/new-videos-can-help-you-brush-up-on-your-salt-smarts/

Jennifer Smith