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. Pierce County has 7 municipal water systems.  

GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICIES   

• 5 of 7 municipal water systems in Pierce County have a wellhead protection plan: Bay City, Elmwood, Maiden Rock, Prescott, and River Falls.
• 4 of 7 municipal water systems in Pierce County have a wellhead protection ordinance: Bay City, Elmwood, Prescott, and River Falls.
• Pierce County has adopted an animal waste management ordinance.

MONEY SPENT ON CLEANUP

• Over $5 million has been spent on petroleum cleanup in Pierce County from leaking underground storage tanks, which equates to $130 per county resident.
• No municipal water systems in Pierce County have spent money to reduce nitrate levels.

GROUNDWATER USE    

• From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Pierce County has increased slightly from about 4.2 million gallons per day to about 4.7 million gallons per day.*
• The increase in total water use over this period is due primarily to increases in irrigation and industrial uses.
• The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has been consistently greater than 97% during the period 1979 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 Pierce County can be seen in the FULL REPORT or accessed through the map link above.

GROUNDWATER QUALITY

• 85% of 379 private well samples collected in Pierce County from 1990-2006 met the health-based drinking water limit for nitrate-nitrogen.  
• A 2002 study estimated that 52% of private drinking water wells in the region of Wisconsin that includes Pierce 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.   
• 2,410 acres of land in Pierce County are in atrazine prohibition areas.
• 90% of 10 private well samples collected in Pierce County met the health standard for arsenic.

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS

• There are 36 open-status sites in Pierce County that have contaminated groundwater and/or soil. These sites include 14 Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites, 15 Environmental Repair (ERP) sites and 7 spill sites.   
• There are 2 concentrated animal feeding operations in Pierce County.
• There are no licensed landfills in Pierce County.
• There are no Superfund sites in Pierce County.

return to top