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. Vilas County has 3 municipal water systems.  

GROUNDWATER PROTECTION POLICIES   

• 2 of 3 municipal water systems in Vilas County have a wellhead protection plan: Land O' Lakes and Phelps.
• 0 of 3 municipal water systems in Vilas County have a wellhead protection ordinance.
• Vilas County has not adopted an animal waste management ordinance.

MONEY SPENT ON CLEANUP

• Over $17 million has been spent on petroleum cleanup in Vilas County from leaking underground storage tanks, which equates to $769 per county resident.
• No municipal water systems in Vilas County have spent money to reduce nitrate levels.

GROUNDWATER USE   

• From 1979 to 2005, total water use in Vilas County has increased from about 1.3 million gallons per day to about 7.9 million gallons per day.*
• The increase in total water use over this period is due almost entirely to an increase in aquaculture and irrigation uses after 1995 to 2005.
• The proportion of county water use supplied by groundwater has decreased from about 100% during the period 1979 to 1995 to about 30% by 2000 and 37% 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 Vilas County can be seen in the FULL REPORT or accessed through the map link above.

GROUNDWATER QUALITY

• 99% of 521 private well samples collected in Vilas 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 Vilas 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.   
• There are no atrazine prohibition areas in Vilas County.
• 100% of 4 private well samples collected in Vilas County met the health standard for arsenic.

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS

• There are 17 open-status sites in Vilas County that have contaminated groundwater and/or soil. These sites include 9 Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites and 8 Environmental Repair (ERP) sites.   
• There are no concentrated animal feeding operations in Vilas County.
• There is 1 licensed landfill in Vilas County.
• There are no Superfund sites in Vilas County.

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