Adam RollinsThis story was originally published in the Government Contracting Pipeline newsletter from Strategic Partnerships, Inc. To have the latest government contracting news stories from across the country delivered straight to your inbox, click here to subscribe.
As part of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ Fiscal Year 2025 through 2027 executive budget, the state will enact a series of comprehensive plans to enhance water quality. The initiatives will include a $145 million investment in addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contaminating water across the state, as well as new rulemaking to strengthen PFAS measures statewide.
This initiative is part of Wisconsin’s ongoing efforts to improve water quality and address PFAS contamination in valuable water resources. The state is investing $145 million in PFAS remediation for surface water, drinking water, and groundwater. A portion of this funding will support a community grant program designed to assist municipal drinking water systems. Municipalities can use these grants to test for and remove PFAS from drinking water, with additional support from the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program.
Additional assistance will go toward private well owners, providing financial support for sampling and testing their wells through a newly established county PFAS well testing program. Local businesses and communities will also benefit through funding for reducing and eliminating the use or release of PFAS into environmental ecosystems.
The state will advance efforts to research effective destruction and disposal techniques for PFAS, as well as implementing existing strategies for their disposal and elimination. Research will be conducted statewide through PFAS sampling and testing to determine how widespread and common contamination is. Plans also include increasing biosolid sampling, testing and remediation in addition to providing support to landowners that have unknowingly spread PFAS-contaminated biosolids.
Several state laws will be altered to enhance water quality, primarily through the adoption of the Chemical Level Enforcement and Remediation (CLEAR) Act. Some of the changes featured in the act include:
- Exempting Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) rulemaking on creating enforceable PFAS standards relating to the REINS Act.
- Prohibiting the spread of biosolids if the PFAS level exceeds DNR-set permitting levels.
- Prioritizing PFAS-related municipal water infrastructure applications if contamination goes over permitting levels.
- Requiring site-specific clean up planning for entities that handle PFAS chemicals.
The state also plans to expand eligibility for its well compensation grant program, allowing more residents to participate and making more PFAS contaminants eligible. The expansion will enable more households to replace or add treatment systems to private water wells.
Finally, as part of the PFAS standard strengthening rulemaking effort, the state will adopt new public health-based groundwater standards for six PFAS. There are currently no state or federal PFAS standards for groundwater. The new rules will ensure the state can take action against groundwater contaminants that threaten the public health, protecting Wisconsin residents statewide. Agencies will use these standards to guide:
- Contamination site cleanup.
- Authorized discharges of treated materials.
- Use of approved agricultural chemicals.
- Regulation of solid waste landfills.
- Beneficial use of industrial byproducts.
Photo by Collab Media
