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. Portage County has 5 municipal water systems.  

GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICIES   

• 5 of 5 municipal water systems in Portage County have a wellhead protection plan: Amherst, Junction City, Plover, Stevens Point and Whiting.
• 5 of 5 municipal water systems in Portage County have a wellhead protection ordinance: Amherst, Junction City, Plover, Stevens Point and Whiting.
• Portage County has adopted an animal waste management ordinance.

MONEY SPENT ON CLEANUP

• Over $12 million has been spent on petroleum cleanup in Portage County from leaking underground storage tanks, which equates to $192 per county resident.
• 3 municipal water systems in Portage County have spent money to reduce nitrate levels.

GROUNDWATER USE    

• From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Portage County has increased from about 40.0 million gallons per day to about 132 million gallons per day.*
• The increase in total water use over this period is due to increases in irrigation and industrial uses.
• The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has declined from 97% to 89% 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. ^D1

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 Portage County can be seen in the FULL REPORT or accessed through the map link above.

GROUNDWATER QUALITY

• 70% of 614 private well samples collected in Portage County from 1990-2006 met the health-based drinking water limit for nitrate-nitrogen.  
• A 2002 study estimated that 36% of private drinking water wells in the region of Wisconsin that includes Portage County contained a detectable level of a herbicide or herbicide metabolite. Pesticides occur in groundwater more commonly in agricultural regions, but can occur anywhere pesticides are stored or applied.   
• 45,527 acres of land in Portage County are in atrazine prohibition areas.
• No arsenic data were found for private wells in Portage County.

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS

• There are 60 sites with contaminated groundwater and/or soil in Portage County with an open status. These sites include 20 Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites, 32 Environmental Repair (ERP) sites and 8 spill sites.   
• There is 1 concentrated animal feeding operation in Portage County.
• There is 1 licensed landfill in Portage County.
• There are no Superfund sites in Portage County.

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