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. Dodge County has 18 municipal water systems.  

GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICIES   

• 5 of 18 municipal water systems in Dodge County have a wellhead protection plan: Beaver Dam North Distribution System, Beaver Dam, Fox Lake Correctional Institution, Juneau and Waupun.
• 2 of 18 municipal water systems in Dodge County have a wellhead protection ordinance: Beaver Dam and Waupun.
• Dodge County has adopted an animal waste management ordinance.

MONEY SPENT ON CLEANUP

• Over $29 million have been spent on petroleum cleanup in Dodge County from leaking underground storage tanks, which equates to $330 per county resident.
• No municipal water systems in Dodge County have spent money to reduce nitrate levels.

GROUNDWATER USE    

• From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Dodge County has fluctuated from about 11.0 million gallons per day to about 14.3 million gallons per day. *
• The fluctuation in total water use over this period is due to all usage categories except domestic, which increased.
• The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater is generally about 98% during the period 1979 to 2005.*
• Water use in Wisconsin is generally estimated for the following categories:
  • Agricultural
  • Domestic
  • 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 Dodge County can be seen in the FULL REPORT or accessed through the map link above.

GROUNDWATER QUALITY

• 89% of 670 private well samples collected in Dodge 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 Dodge 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.   
• 18,492 acres of land in Dodge County are in atrazine prohibition areas.
• 90% of 39 private well samples collected in Dodge County met the health standard for arsenic.

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS

• There are 72 open-status sites in Dodge County that have contaminated groundwater and/or soil. These sites include 33 Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites, 34 Environmental Repair (ERP) sites, 1 spill site and 4 Voluntary Party Liability Exemption (VPLE) sites   
• There are 2 concentrated animal feeding operations in Dodge County.
• There is 1 licensed landfill in Dodge County.
• There are 2 Superfund sites in Dodge County.

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