Current Issues
WDNR to Prioritize PFAS Threat to State Waters
The WI Department of Natural Resources has announced that it is has established an internal workgroup to help determine the scope of the problem and best courses of action in response to PFAS – emerging contaminants that threaten the State’s drinking water sources and...
CSWAB Calls for Safer Disposal of Munitions
In solidarity with the Kentucky Environmental Foundation and other members of the national Cease Fire Campaign, CSWAB submitted formal comments this week objecting to a proposed hazardous waste permit allowing the Blue Grass Army Depot (KY) to continue open air...
Health Officials Advise PFAS May Concentrate in Some Garden Plants
In response to questions about whether perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water can get into the plants we eat, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services has issued a memo recommending that people do not use water that contains PFAS...
Why the Badger Ammo Cleanup is Faltering
In response to Wisconsin DNR concerns about increasing concentrations of the explosive dinitrotoluene (DNT) in groundwater near Badger Army Ammunition Plant, the Army will be increasing the frequency of groundwater and drinking water sampling in several areas at and...
Army Reports to Senate on Badger Cleanup
The Office of the Secretary of the Army recently submitted its report to the Senate Appropriations Committee on the status of environmental cleanup at Badger Army Ammunition Plant. The May 16 report, requested by U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, affirms the military’s...
Drinking Water Tests Omit Thousands of Toxic PFAS Compounds
In solidarity with affected communities across the U.S., CSWAB has prepared formal comments to EPA calling for improved screening of municipal and residential drinking water for PFAS, a group of highly toxic compounds found in firefighting foams used by the military...
Senators Pressure EPA for Better Regulation of Toxic PFAS
Tammy Baldwin and two dozen other U.S. Senators have co-signed a letter urging the U.S. EPA to establish enforceable and protective standards for a group of highly toxic chemicals that have contaminated groundwater and drinking water wells in communities across the...
Baldwin Seeks Progress in Mercury Cleanup
On behalf of concerned residents, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin has requested and recently received an update on the Army’s pending cleanup of mercury-contaminated sediments at Gruber’s Grove Bay on Lake Wisconsin. The contamination was caused by the direct discharge of...
Wisconsin to Address PFOA/PFOS and Other Groundwater Contaminants
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has taken the first step in establishing standards for currently unregulated contaminants that threaten the state’s groundwater – the source of drinking water for two-thirds of people living in Wisconsin. The Department’s...
WDNR Says Dredging Will Restore Health of Gruber’s Grove Bay
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has issued a letter to the U.S. Army at Badger Army Ammunition Plant which supports dredging mercury-contaminated sediments that remain in Gruber’s Grove Bay on Lake Wisconsin. The January 23 letter says that...
New Groundwater Results for Badger Ammo
CSWAB has published a new map summarizing recent groundwater test results for the Badger Army Ammunition Plant area. As part of the September 2017 round of tests, the Army sampled 127 monitoring wells for solvents and the explosive dinitrotoluene (DNT). These wells...
Toxic Compound Highest in Groundwater at Fort McCoy
CSWAB petitioned the Wisconsin DNR today to develop drinking water Health Advisory Levels for toxic compounds that have been detected in groundwater at U.S. Army Reserve Fort McCoy and other Wisconsin sites that used industrial fire-fighting foams. The petition is the...