M.K DeSantis, Pegasus Technical Services for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Series: Drinking Water Quality

Drinking water quality varies across in Wisconsin. In communities with public utilities, drinking water is subject to disparate levels of treatment depending on local needs and budget concerns. Nearly one million households get their water from private wells, which depend on property owners for monitoring and treatment. Across the state, many natural processes and human activities can introduce pathogens and chemical contaminants into water supplies. Wherever their drinking water comes from, Wisconsinites can use various resources to better understand and improve its quality.
 
E coli
About 2 million children die each year from waterborne disease, primarily acquired by drinking water contaminated by pathogens, including bacteria, protozoa and viruses.
Reports of lead contamination in Flint, Michigan's water supply has people across the country questioning the safety of their own water.
Gooseneck pipes
About 39 percent of Wisconsin's households get their drinking water from private wells while most of the rest of the state's 5.7 million people rely on public utilities for this basic necessity. But utility customers across Wisconsin get their water on very different terms.
Madison water quality manager Joe Grande said the city finished replacing its lead water pipes in 2012, making it a nationwide model.
faucet
Although nearly 900,000 Wisconsin households rely on private wells for drinking water, its quality is not a matter of certainty.
Private well
Recent news about water quality in Wisconsin and elsewhere naturally may have people wondering about the quality of what's coming out of their faucets at home.
Sharon Long
Waterborne pathogens can cycle between the environment and their human and animal hosts, causing illness in people and spreading disease between households. To determine how fecal matter contaminates groundwater, scientists use indicators that specify the source, identifying it as human or animal waste.
Kenneth Bradbury
Leaky sewer pipes might be the source of viruses found in drinking water that Wisconsin municipalities draw from bedrock aquifers 800 feet below ground..