Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Sunday, February 20, 2005

What's in your water? Contaminant issues a growing concern in area

By REID MAGNEY / La Crosse Tribune

Whad'ya drinkin'?

It's a simple question, asked often in these parts. The answer could be milk, City Lager or, in these health-conscious times, water.

But what's in our water, and where does it come from?

Even though the nation's largest river flows right past our front door, we get our water from wells in the ground because it's much cleaner than Big Muddy's cocktail of eroded topsoil, treated sewage and farm chemicals.

There's a myth around here, perpetuated by decades of brewery advertising, that our well water is pure by virtue of some deep underground river from Canada.

In reality, much of our water source is very local. Rain and snowmelt soak into the ground and quickly reach underground aquifers because of our sandy soil.

Which is why officials are concerned about protecting our wells from chemical spills and leaking landfills. Holmen and West Salem have passed ordinances to protect the areas around their wells, and La Crosse will likely consider similar measures this year.

But there's a new concern —river water getting into the wells.

In 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and La Crosse County collaborated on a major study of groundwater flows in La Crosse County and the nearby pools of the Mississippi River.

What geologists found is surface water is being drawn through riverbanks into the ground around the city of La Crosse.

The reason? High-capacity pumping throughout the county — 19 million gallons a day — has dropped the underground water table by as much as 9.7 feet in some areas around University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, according to the study. In Onalaska, the water table is down 3 feet.

Pumping all that water out of the ground under La Crosse has created a depression in the groundwater system that now is being partially filled by water from the Mississippi, Black and La Crosse rivers, said USGS geologist Randy Hunt.

Seven of La Crosse's 13 wells "are thought to have appreciable amounts of surface water contributing to the well water," Hunt and his co-authors said in a recent paper.

Initially, Hunt and other co-authors, including microbiologist Mark Borchardt of Marshfield Clinic, had started looking at the potential for viruses in river water to get into well water.

In 2001 and 2002, they took 48 water samples from city wells prior to chlorination, and half the samples tested positive for some viruses, such as hepatitis A. However, the study found no corresponding reports of hepatitis A in the community during the same period.

Mark Johnson, manager of La Crosse's water utility, said water systems use chlorine to kill bacteria, and researchers believe it also will inactivate viruses.

The researchers recommended further study of chlorine's effectiveness on viruses, which Marshfield Clinic will start later this year.

"The study will either find out (chlorination) is effective, or that we need to take more steps," Johnson said. The study also will look at the use of ultraviolet light in other communities.

Johnson said he works closely with the La Crosse County Health Department, which monitors local hospitals for any possible water-borne illnesses.

River water contains other contaminants that chlorine won't fix, such as agricultural weed-killers, pharmaceuticals and personal care products that might affect human health.

Prescription, over-the-counter and illicit drugs often wind up in the river because our bodies eliminate them and our sewage treatment plants don't remove them.

A U.S. EPA official has said "almost nothing" has been published in medical literature about "determining the causes, extent, risks, or solutions to the issue of drugs as pollutants."

Johnson said Wisconsin's State Laboratory of Hygiene recently started its own study of La Crosse's water for those chemicals, often called endocrine disruptors.

"We want to be proactive if there are things in the future we have to deal with," Johnson said.

"La Crosse has been very forward-thinking," said Hunt. "They were the ones that looked" for viruses in the water.

"There's not anything unique about La Crosse" when it comes to the connection between surface and ground water, said Hunt, noting that many other communities face similar issues.

La Crosse County, which helped pay for the ground water study, will use the study in the coming year as it revamps its comprehensive plan, said Charlie Handy, the county's planner.

Some growth areas will have sewers, but others won't, and the study will help decide where it's safe to use septic systems, Handy said. Areas with shallow groundwater and sandy soils are prone to contamination, he said.

To learn more about viruses in groundwater, readers can go to www.lacrossetribune.com/waterstudy.pdf to find a Q&A by the study's authors that answers questions about water safety. Additional information is also available at www.cityoflacrosse.org/Water/WaterUtility.html.

HOW TO TEST YOUR WELL

The La Crosse County Health Department recommends all private wells be tested annually or whenever a change in water color, taste or odor is detected.

To find out more about testing, contact the department at (608) 785-9872 or stop in at 300 N. Fourth St. in downtown La Crosse. The office has information and sterile containers available for taking water samples, which for $42 can be checked for both nitrate and coliform bacteria.

The department also can provide help on how to test well water for other possible contaminants, such as arsenic, lead, radon gas, atrazine and other pesticides, radium and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Information about nitrate and other groundwater contaminants can be found at the following Web sites:

Central Wisconsin Groundwater Center, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point:

www.uwsp.edu/cnr/gndwater/privatewells/

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater:

www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/dwg/

Environmental Protection Agency, groundwater and drinking water: www.epa.gov/safewater/

Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.