Protecting Wisconsin's Groundwater Through Comprehensive Planning
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  Taylor County
  This report provsides the most current information and data found, as of May 2007, unless otherwise noted.
   
  Taylor County groundwater findings reports Taylor County full report Switch to Taylor County full report
 

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. Taylor County has 4 municipal water systems.  Table showing water systems in Taylor County
 

GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICIES   Table showing water systems in Taylor County

  • 3 of 4 municipal water systems in Taylor County have a wellhead protection plan: Gilman, Medford and Westboro.
  • 0 of 4 municipal water systems in Taylor County have a wellhead protection ordinance.
  • Taylor County has adopted an animal waste management ordinance.
 

MONEY SPENT ON CLEANUP

  • Over $11 million has been spent on petroleum cleanup in Taylor County from leaking underground storage tanks, which equates to $607 per county resident.
  • No municipal water systems in Taylor County have spent money to reduce nitrate levels.
 

GROUNDWATER USE    Water use figure

  • From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Taylor County has decreased slightly from about 2.6 million gallons per day to about 2.2 million gallons per day.*
  • The decrease in total water use over this period is due to a decrease in aquaculture and domestic uses, offsetting slight increases in other use categories.
  • The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has been consistently greater than 96% during the period 1979 to 2000 and a decrease to 89% 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   Susceptibility map

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

GROUNDWATER QUALITY

  • 97% of 86 private well samples collected in Taylor County from 1990-2006 met the health-based drinking water limit for nitrate-nitrogen.   Nitrate map
  • A 2002 study estimated that 12% of private drinking water wells in the region of Wisconsin that includes Taylor 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.   Statewide pesticide map
  • There are no atrazine prohibition areas in Taylor County.
  • 59% of 29 private well samples collected in Taylor County met the health standard for arsenic.
 

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS

  • There are 39 open-status sites in Taylor County that have contaminated groundwater and/or soil. These sites include30 Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites and 9 Environmental Repair (ERP) sites.   BRRTS map
  • There are no concentrated animal feeding operations in Taylor County.
  • There are no licensed landfills in Taylor County.
  • There is 1 Superfund site in Taylor County.

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Taylor County full report Taylor County full report
   

For more information about this web site, its contributors, and the data contained herein, click here.

For assistance in comprehensive planning, please contact Lynn Markham, UW-Stevens Point.
For assistance on groundwater, please contact Charles Dunning, USGS.
Page contact: Webmaster, USGS
Page last updated: January 14, 2008