Today, the Wisconsin Division of Health issued its recommendations for groundwater quality standards for PFOA and PFOS – the culmination of years of work by Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger!
The health-based threshold of 20 parts per trillion is for the summed total concentration of both chemicals in groundwater – the source of drinking water for more than two-thirds of Wisconsin residents.
CSWAB first turned its attention to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in 2017 when environmental testing by the Department of Defense found high concentrations of these chemicals at military bases around the U.S. A formal open records request by CSWAB to the Wisconsin DNR revealed extensive PFAS groundwater contamination at military and industrial sites around the state.
In September 2017, CSWAB formally petitioned the State of Wisconsin for health-based standards for the two most common forms of PFAS: PFOA and PFOS. Shortly thereafter, the Wisconsin DNR issued responsible party letters to military sites with widespread PFAS contamination including Volk Field, Truax ANG, Fort McCoy and others.
Recognizing the scope of the problem, CSWAB organized the PFAS Community Campaign – a statewide coalition of organizations based in Wisconsin working together to prevent exposures to PFAS via drinking water and other pathways.
In August 2018, CSWAB formally petitioned the Wisconsin DNR for a Health Advisory Level (HAL) for the summed-total concentration of all PFAS detected in or posing a risk to the State’s groundwater. Among them were the 19 PFAS chemicals detected in soils and groundwater at the Tyco/Johnson Controls Fire Systems in Marinette, Wisconsin.
In January 2019, the Wisconsin DNR granted our petition for 26 PFAS compounds that pose a threat to the State’s groundwater. These additional health-based thresholds will be issued in the coming year and beyond – again prompted by CSWAB’s efforts!
So today we celebrate this success and wish to thank everyone who has supported CSWAB’s ongoing work to regulate, safely remediate, and ultimately secure a ban on the production and use of PFAS!
Today we made a difference. Thank you!