'Forever chemicals' will get greater scrutiny in Wisconsin waterways this year
The Department of Natural Resources is increasing surveillance this year in state waterways for so-called “forever chemicals” that are known to pose health hazards to humans.
The aim of this summer’s efforts is to learn more about the extent of perfluorinated chemicals, which are under growing scrutiny nationally, by taking fish and water samples at strategic locations around the state.
With data in hand, the DNR says it plans to propose standards for a safe level in state waters, although a timetable has not been set.
Separately, the Department of Health Services is expected this spring to recommend safe levels in groundwater. The agency began the work more than a year ago, and regulations setting standards must still undergo a multi-year rule making process.
The chemicals have been widely used for decades and have properties that keep food from sticking to pans; allow carpets to resist stains; and in firefighting, especially at military installations, where they are used to spread fire-retardant foams.
RELATED:Tony Evers declared 2019 'the year of clean drinking water.' Here's the task he faces in Wisconsin
They are also highly resistant to breaking down in the environment.
Epidemiology studies cited in a federal report released last year suggest that the chemicals can lead to increased risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension, liver damage, thyroid disease, asthma, decreased fertility, some cancers and a decline in response to vaccines.
Some state waters have been tested in the past. Authorities have detected the chemicals in groundwater in Madison near Truax Field and Lake Michigan’s Green Bay near Marinette. Another site along the Wisconsin River has a past report of high levels of the chemicals in the blood of a bald eagle.
Starting this year, the DNR is embarking on a more formalized monitoring plan as public interest has intensified and other states such as Minnesota and Michigan have embarked on more extensive monitoring plans.
“It’s something that the agency is paying more attention to, and we want to have greater confidence in our data collection,” said Tim Asplund, chief of water resources monitoring at the DNR.
The DNR plans to examine sections of Starkweather Creek on Madison’s east side, which lies near a fire training site at the airfield. Starkweather Creek is a tributary of Lake Monona.
Other sites are the Menominee River in northeastern Wisconsin; middle sections of the Wisconsin River; Silver Creek and Suukjak Sep Creek that feed into the La Crosse River; and four pools on the Mississippi River.
In Marinette, two facilities owned by Tyco Fire Products, a maker of firefighting foam, have released the contaminants from their facilities, and DNR scientists want to better evaluate the impact on the Marinette River. Tyco is a unit of Johnson Controls International.
Areas of the Wisconsin River include wells where the chemicals have been detected in Rhinelander and an area of the river where DNR wildlife toxicologist Sean Strom has tested the blood of a bald eagle with extremely high levels of the chemicals.
“We detect (the chemicals) a lot in different species,” Strom said. But one sample of an eagle near the river is perplexing. “I have yet to solve that mystery,” Strom said.
Silver Creek and Suukjak Sep Creek flow through Fort McCoy. Also, sections of the Mississippi River are known to contain chemicals linked to 3M Corp. in Minnesota and other unconfirmed sources.
Asplund said that other waterways will be tested in future years.
Past testing showing high levels in the Mississippi River. Wisconsin has established limits on fish consumption for those chemicals in the river.