In this post, we explore the situation in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, highlighting how a proactive municipal government ensured the safety of its drinking water. However, it’s noteworthy that neighboring residents, many of whom rely on private wells, face the troubling issue of elevated nitrate levels that exceed federal safety guidelines. This article delves into the challenges surrounding the reduction of hazardous chemicals in agriculture, especially focusing on nitrate pollution from fertilizers and its effect on aquifers that supply well water.
A brief aside: the headline alludes to the commercial interest in clean water, which extends beyond brewing beer. Companies like Coca-Cola, with numerous bottlers, often face challenges regarding water quality in foreign locales. To maintain their brand integrity, Coca-Cola discusses and assists in remediation efforts with bottlers whose water may compromise the flavor of their products.
Interestingly, the flavor of local water can significantly influence baked goods like bread, pizza dough, and bagels. If your local bagel shop produces stale bagels that lack the distinct taste reminiscent of New York City bagels, the reason may lie in the quality of their water. New York City’s tap water receives high marks in taste tests, suggesting that local bakeries may be at a disadvantage if they don’t filter their water.
By Keith Schneider, a former national correspondent for The New York Times, and senior editor and columnist for Circle of Blue. His work has also appeared in Mongabay, The Guardian, and other outlets. For more details, check out his Toxic Terrain report for The New Lede on the national crisis of farm nutrient pollution. Originally published at Circle of Blue.
Since Jacob Leinenkugel unearthed pure spring waters capable of brewing his celebrated beer, protecting clean water has become a priority for Chippewa Falls.
In light of this longstanding commitment, it was pivotal when, in 1997, the city’s utility managers identified concerningly high concentrations of nitrates in one of its water supply wells. The city responded swiftly by installing advanced filtration systems and drilling deeper wells into cleaner aquifers, ensuring that the water served to the city’s 16,000 residents contained nitrate levels below 10 parts per million— the threshold accepted as safe by federal standards. This effort incurs an annual cost of approximately $200,000 for Chippewa Falls.
While this proactive initiative safeguarded the city’s water quality, it simultaneously highlighted a distressing reality: Most of the other 67,000 residents of Chippewa County depend on private wells, many of which are contaminated with nitrates at levels surpassing the federal safety limit.
Matthew Boos, the supervisor of Chippewa Falls’s water treatment facility, is acutely aware of this disparity. Remarkably, he himself relies on a well that has shown increasing nitrate levels. “When I first moved here, the level was 10,” he shared. “Now it’s 20.”
To ensure his family’s safety, Boos installed a reverse osmosis filtration system. His parents also faced a similar situation, leading them to secure a state grant to drill a new well into a cleaner aquifer.
A Hazardous Pollutant
The nitrate situation surrounding Chippewa Falls illustrates the broader national challenge linked to nutrient runoff from industrial agriculture. Across the farming heartland of America, billions of pounds of synthetic fertilizers and millions of tons of livestock manure are deployed on fields, with significant consequences for water quality.
Nitrates are formed when nitrogen in fertilizers meets oxygen. They are highly soluble and can easily seep into surface and groundwater. Nitrates pose serious health risks as they have been linked to cancer and other chronic diseases.
Despite strong evidence connecting nitrates to increased cancer rates in Corn Belt states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, regulatory action at local, state, and federal levels remains minimal.
Efforts to persuade farmers to adopt voluntary measures to control nutrient runoff have proven largely ineffective, leading to unrestrained application of fertilizers and manure by large agricultural operations.
“The Corn Belt exemplifies what’s happening nationwide,” remarked Tyler Lobdell, a staff attorney with Food & Water Watch, an environmental advocacy group. “Industrial agricultural practices predominantly contribute to these issues, yet the regulation of these sources remains largely neglected.”
Scarce Oversight
This challenge has developed over the past half-century. The U.S. Public Health Service established a 10 parts per million nitrate limit in drinking water in 1962 to prevent blue baby syndrome in infants. This interim standard was made official in 1992 under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Despite the requirement for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to periodically review these safety limits, the legal standard for nitrates has stagnated for 64 years, even as scientific evidence underscoring the risks has mounted. Recent initiatives by both the Obama and Biden administrations to review these standards were halted during the Trump administration.
Studies indicate that consumption of nitrates from agricultural sources has been linked to various cancers, including blood, brain, breast, bladder, and ovarian cancers. Other research suggests the rise of colorectal cancers and birth defects at levels as low as 5 parts per million.
Among the 14 states with the highest cancer rates in the U.S., four are in the Corn Belt, including Wisconsin. A study published recently reported that drinking water containing nitrates, even below the federal legal limit, was associated with a 61% to 73% increase in cancer mortality risk.
Evidence reveals that nitrates are prevalent in drinking water across the nation. A report by the Environmental Working Group found that approximately 18% of the U.S. population—over 62.1 million people—consumed water containing nitrates at or above 3 parts per million. Alarmingly, 85% of over 50,000 water treatment utilities in the U.S. lack any capacity for nitrate treatment, with more than 6,000 community water systems providing water with excessive nitrate levels.
State Encounter
The challenges associated with nitrate contamination in Wisconsin are indicative of issues in other states within the Corn Belt. Nitrate from fertilizers and manure stands as the predominant contaminant in Wisconsin’s groundwater, surpassing safe drinking standards in numerous homes, schools, businesses, and communities. Over the past two decades, state tests have indicated that nearly one in ten private wells have exceeded the nitrate safety standard. Farmers have significantly increased their nitrogen fertilizer application in recent years, deploying five times more in 2019 compared to 1960. The growth of large dairy and hog operations has further exacerbated the situation.
The consequences of this are dire for countless residents in Wisconsin. In Chippewa County, despite its infrastructure for treated drinking water, most of the nearly 67,000 residents rely on private wells. Much like its neighboring counties, the groundwater in Chippewa County suffers from nitrate contamination.
In many areas, nitrate concentrations exceed the 10 parts per million federal safety limit. As part of a response to this crisis, Chippewa County has initiated “refill stations” that allow residents to obtain clean water in bulk. Four locations have been established in the county for this purpose.
Essentially, Chippewa Falls stands out as a community committed to treating its water, serving as a crucial node in a $300 million agricultural economy with over 1,200 farms. “We process 4 million gallons daily,” Boos noted. “Our municipal water is safe to drink. I often tell people that I’d choose city water over well water any day in this region.”