CALL NOW! NO MORE BROWN DRINKING WATER!

River Alliance and several allies have been pushing for a bill to protect drinking water, and it's finally here! LRB 4261 was introduced this week and needs legislative support. We need you to ACT NOW by contacting your representative by this Thursday, March 18th and urging them to co-sponsor this very important bill.

For years, hundreds of homeowners in northeastern Wisconsin have turned on their faucets, only to find brown, fetid water coming out. The reason: the thin soil and porous bedrock underlying this region (a geologic formation called “karst”) has cracks and holes near the surface. They provide industrial sludge, municipal waste and manure easy avenues straight to the groundwater and eventually to household faucets. Rural homeowners in Door, Manitowoc, Brown, Kewaunee and Calumet counties have been calling for something to be done.

Finally their call has been heard. The bill introduced this week by Senator Dave Hansen – LRB 4261- will protect drinking water in karst areas by creating special management in areas at greater risk for contamination and providing a framework for landscape-specific pollution standards. Contact your legislators by this Thursday, March 18th and urge them to co-sponsor this bill.

For contact information for your legislators, click here.

River Waves….Air Waves, that is….

On February 23rd, our very own Denny Caneff and long time River Alliance member Chuck Wagner discussed drinking water issues in the “karst” region of northeast Wisconsin with Stacy Harbaugh on "A Public Affair", 89.9 WORT-FM. Click here to listen.

Keeping an Eye on Big Dairy

While big livestock farms (known as CAFOs, or Confined Animal Feeding Operations) continue to expand (with support from top state government officials), their impact on rivers, lakes, and groundwater has citizens all across Wisconsin worried.

The Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club is hosting a series of "webinars" designed to answer questions related to water quality monitoring CAFOs for their impacts on nearby water resources. The first of the three-part series happened Tuesday evening, February 9. The second and third installment are set for February 16 and 23.

If you cannot participate in the webinars, the Sierra Club has posted written materials and contact information for the program on their website. This is a great source of information on how to monitor CAFOs. Click here to learn more.