SOURCES OF DRINKING WATER

• Wisconsin has nearly 11,500 public water systems which meet the daily water needs of about 4 million people. Public water systems that are owned by a community are called municipal water systems. Dane County has 34 municipal water systems.  

GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICIES   

• 16 of 34 municipal water systems in Dane County have a wellhead protection plan: Blue Mounds, Cottage Grove, Deerfield, Fitchburg, Madison, Marshall, Mazomanie, Morrisonville, Oregon, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Token Creek, Town of Burke, Waunakee, Westport and Windsor.
• 14 of 34 municipal water systems in Dane County have a wellhead protection ordinance: Blue Mounds, Cottage Grove, Deerfield, Fitchburg, Madison, Marshall, Mazominie, Oregon, Stoughton, Token Creek, Town of Burke, Waunakee, Westport and Windsor.
• Dane County has adopted an animal waste management ordinance.

MONEY SPENT ON CLEANUP

• Over $120 million have been spent on petroleum cleanup in Dane County from leaking underground storage tanks, which equates to $359 per county resident.
• 3 municipal water systems in Dane County have spent money to reduce nitrate levels.

GROUNDWATER USE    

• From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Dane County has fluctuated from about 53.0 million gallons per day to 70.2 million gallons per day.*
• The fluctuation in total water use over this period is due to all categories of usage.
• The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has been consistently above 97% from 1997 to 2005.*
• Water use in Wisconsin is generally estimated for the following categories:
  • Domestic
  • Livestock
  • Aquaculture
  • Irrigation
  • Industrial
  • Commercial
  • Public use and losses
  • Thermoelectric or mining*

* Thermoelectric and mining data are not considered in water-use tables or figures on this web site. Thermoelectric-power water use is the amount of water used in the process of generating thermoelectric power. The predominant use of water is as non-contact cooling water to condense the steam created to turn the turbines and generate electricity.

SUSCEPTIBILITY OF GROUNDWATER TO CONTAMINANTS   

• Wisconsin has abundant quantities of high-quality groundwater, but once groundwater is contaminated, it's very expensive and often not technically possible to clean.
• An evaluation of the susceptibility of groundwater to contamination in Dane County can be seen in the FULL REPORT or accessed through the map link above.

GROUNDWATER QUALITY

• 79% of 2,624 private well samples collected in Dane County from 1990-2006 met the health-based drinking water limit for nitrate-nitrogen.  
• A 2002 study estimated that 62% of private drinking water wells in the region of Wisconsin that includes Dane County contained a detectable level of an herbicide or herbicide metabolite. Pesticides occur in groundwater more commonly in agricultural regions, but can occur anywhere pesticides are stored or applied.   
• 531,830 acres of land in Dane County are in atrazine prohibition areas.
• 100% of 34 private well samples collected in Dane County met the health standard for arsenic.

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS

• There are 262 open-status sites in Dane County that have contaminated groundwater and/or soil. These sites include 156 Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites, 99 Environmental Repair (ERP) sites, 4 spill sites, and 3 Voluntary Party Liability Exemptions (VPLE) sites.  
• There are 7 concentrated animal feeding operations in Dane County.
• There are 2 licensed landfills in Dane County.
• There are 5 Superfund sites in Dane County.

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