Failure at the Faucet
Water woes emerge as major issue in Wisconsin elections
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Residents concerned about contaminated wells and disappearing lakes are making water a major campaign issue for some Wisconsin candidates this fall.
Failure at the Faucet
Human waste pollutes some Wisconsin drinking water
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Failing septic systems, leaking public sewer pipes and landspreading of septic waste can introduce dangerous pathogens into both rural and urban water systems. Experts say Wisconsin needs tougher laws to protect Wisconsin drinking water from contamination by sewage and septic waste.
Failure at the Faucet
Bacteria in state’s drinking water is ‘public health crisis’
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Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents are at risk of illness from waterborne pathogens in private and public drinking water supplies. Contamination by pathogens is of special concern because unlike pollution by metals or chemicals, pathogens can sicken people after just a single exposure.
Failure at the Faucet
Wisconsin launches effort to replace aging lead pipes to safeguard water
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The state Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday it will target low-income areas with $11.8 million in new grants to replace aging pipes made of lead that supply water to homes.
Failure at the Faucet
Water tainted with lead, copper at two Wisconsin state prisons
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The water at Fox Lake and Waupun Correctional Institutions is tainted with lead and copper. Officials say they are complying with federal standards, but some inmates and staff question whether it is safe.
Failure at the Faucet
Wisconsin strontium levels among highest in U.S. drinking water supplies
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Eastern Wisconsin has among the highest levels of the heavy metal strontium in drinking water. Limits may be on the way for this unregulated contaminant.
Failure at the Faucet
As wells go deeper, radium levels rise in state tap water
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As communities grow and pump more groundwater, radium from deep bedrock is contaminating dozens of water systems. The city of Waukesha wants to tap into Lake Michigan to solve its radium problem.
Failure at the Faucet
Lead poisoning would trigger tap water test under proposal
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Two Democratic lawmakers want the state Department of Health Services to investigate drinking water as a possible source when children are lead poisoned. The proposal also greatly lowers the blood lead levels that would trigger an investigation.
Failure at the Faucet
First in the nation: City of Madison replaced all lead pipes
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The Madison Water Utility was the first major utility in the nation to demonstrate that a full replacement of both the public and the private portions of lead service lines was possible.
Failure at the Faucet
Lead pipes, antiquated law threaten Wisconsin’s drinking water quality
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Experts, and even some regulators, say existing laws are failing to protect Wisconsin and the nation from harmful exposure to lead in drinking water that leaches from aging plumbing — a danger illustrated by the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan.
