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. Marathon County has 17 municipal water systems.  

GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICIES   

• 13 of 17 municipal water systems in Marathon County have a wellhead protection plan: Brokaw, Colby, Edgar, Hatley, Kronenwetter, Marshfield, Mosinee, Rib Mountain, Rothschild, Spencer, Stratford, Wausau and Weston.
• 9 of 17 municipal water systems in Marathon County have a wellhead protection ordinance: Brokaw, Hatley, Kronenwetter, Mosinee, Rib Mountain, Rothschild, Spencer, Wausau and Weston.
• Marathon County has adopted an animal waste management ordinance.

MONEY SPENT ON CLEANUP

• Over $30 million has been spent on petroleum cleanup in Marathon County from leaking underground storage tanks, which equates to $231 per county resident.
• No municipal water systems in Marathon County have spent money to reduce nitrate levels.

GROUNDWATER USE    

• From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Marathon County has increased from about 40.7 million gallons per day to 68.2 million gallons per day.*
• Industrial water use is the greatest component of use in the county and is responsible for the increase in total water use over this period.
• The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has been increased from about 40% to 46% during the period 1979 to 2000 and decreased to 34% in 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 Marathon County can be seen in the FULL REPORT or accessed through the map link above.

GROUNDWATER QUALITY

• 85% of 762 private well samples collected in Marathon County from 1990-2006 met the health-based drinking water limit for nitrate-nitrogen.  
• A 2002 study estimated that 12% of private drinking water wells in the region of Wisconsin that includes Marathon 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.   
• 5,540 acres of land in Marathon County are in atrazine prohibition areas.
• 100% of 22 private well samples collected in Marathon County met the health standard for arsenic.

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS

• There are 140 open-status sites in Marathon County that have contaminated groundwater and/or soil. These sites include 53 Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites, 67 Environmental Repair (ERP) sites, 18 spill sites and 2 Voluntary Party Liability Exemption (VPLE) sites.  
• There are 10 concentrated animal feeding operations in Marathon County.
• There are 4 licensed landfills in Marathon County.
• There are 3 Superfund sites in Marathon County.

return to top