Wisconsin abandoned rules on nitrates pollution. Now, solutions seem far off
MADISON – Nearly five years ago, dozens of people wrote to the Department of Natural Resources asking for the agency to take a more comprehensive look at how nitrates are regulated in different areas of the state.
Many of them shared concerns over the ability to drink their well water, especially after manure had been spread by nearby agricultural operations. Others worried about the impact on future generations if the rule governing acceptable amounts of agricultural runoff wasn't updated.
"Wisconsin's natural resources belong to the people. It is the duty of the DNR to protect fragile ecosystems and to respect the finite nature of our groundwater," Elaine and Severin Swanson of Rosendale said in written comments regarding the rule.
"Please take time to understand the profound implications if no action is taken following these hearings. Our current system of food production is only serving the giants of agriculture. I feel the land itself deserves equal dominion."
Since then, the rule was abandoned by the DNR, and while there has been a limited amount of interest from the Legislature about the contaminant, advancements have been few. Meanwhile, the agency has swapped approaches, hoping to teach farmers more about preventing nitrates from getting into the water in the first place.
But what's been accomplished hasn't changed much and some argue Wisconsin's nitrates problem has only worsened.
Even in the face of a growing number of contaminations in private wells, the DNR is unlikely to attempt to create regulations based on the area a farm is located in, said Brian Weigel, the deputy administrator of the external services division.
"We don't have any plans to pursue formal rulemaking on agricultural uses of nitrogen at this point. We are working with existing programs, including targeted runoff management and surface water grants," he said.
More: Nitrate has plagued Wisconsin's groundwater for decades. Why is the problem so hard to solve?
"It doesn't work for us to tell farmers how to farm. That's not going to work. We need to come together in more of the consensus building and opportunities that are functional and implementable, and ultimately yield that win-win situation for agriculture as well as human health and the environment."
While environmental organizations have expressed frustration with the lack of an updated standard to hold polluters accountable, the state is hoping new ways of managing how the nutrient is applied as fertilizer on agricultural fields could be the answer.
'At the moment it's uncontrolled'
Nitrate forms when oxygen combines with nitrogen-rich sources like fertilizer, manure or waste from septic tanks. It slips easily into groundwater by way of rain or melting snow, especially in places with shallow soil or fragmented bedrock.
It's the state’s most widespread contaminant of groundwater. About 10%, or 80,000, of the state’s private wells fail to meet the state drinking water standard of 10 milligrams per liter. In heavily farmed areas, that percentage can rise upward of 20%.
More: Rural Wisconsinites see farm pollution, PFAS as big threats to clean drinking water, UW survey finds
The contaminant mostly comes from manure or fertilizer but can also originate from septic systems and other sources. When nitrates get into drinking water, it can have detrimental impacts on small children, some adults, especially pregnant women.
While nitrate is regulated by the federal government in drinking water — the water that is made available from public water systems — it is not regulated in groundwater, or the water that is pulled from the ground into private wells. Groundwater standards for all pollutants are left up to the decision of individual states, making it more of a patchwork approach across the country.
The Wisconsin DNR first launched the process for standards regarding nitrates in groundwater in December 2019 in a bid to keep the nutrients from affecting soils and geology most vulnerable to contamination. Residents impacted by nitrate contamination rejoiced at the rulemaking.
But over the course of the lengthy process, which usually takes up to 30 months, the agency hit a roadblock — the estimated cost of implementing the rule could go over the $10 million threshold set by the Legislature within the first two years.
The DNR was forced to drop the rule then and there, not long after the public hearing and comments. It was a blow to those who saw the rule as a light at the end of the tunnel.
"It was clear that we needed more work to be done to get on the same page regarding what kinds of tools are available," Weigel said. "There were hurdles, some questions regarding how this can be implemented on a field-by-field scale... That just wasn't amenable to what we needed to do in terms of getting more of an understanding."
Since the process halted, many advocates and residents feel the issue has only grown.
"The nitrate problem has gotten worse," said Mike Tiboris, of the Wisconsin River Alliance. "I think it's a pretty clear indication of what we're doing is not working."
Tiboris said the gains the state has seen in managing nitrogen and nitrates have mostly come from point sources, such as wastewater treatment plants. But non-point sources, such as runoff from agricultural fields, have not decreased nearly as much as is needed.
The state has shifted its attention to programs such as producer-led watershed groups, which puts farmers in control of the actions taken to address pollution. Farmers are able to implement practices such as no-till, cover crops or even rotational grazing to provide solutions to run-off leaving their farms.
But while it's great to have the farmers in the driver's seat, the groups aren't the answer to solving the nitrate riddle, advocates say.
"The groups are an excellent step towards the agriculture community speaking up about how important water quality is," Tiboris said. "But we know, that even if we fully adopted the sorts of practices that are being recommended at the moment, they wouldn't solve the problem."
The only way to fully address the issue is to prevent any excess nitrogen being applied to the ground, whether in the form of fertilizer or manure. The state could look at banning the application of fertilizer or manure in areas of the state where the groundwater is close to the surface, or porous rock makes the groundwater ripe for contamination, advocates have suggested.
"There are probably parts of the state where they're just too vulnerable to be applying the levels of nutrition that people are putting in," Tiboris said. "It's really difficult to know what to say about how you might reverse that issue. I think most of us are looking at just how to get it under control because at the moment it's just uncontrolled."
More: Study of water in 3 southwestern Wisconsin counties points to solutions for protecting private wells
No new nitrate standards yet from the Legislature
Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, who is known for his work on bills targeting water contamination, has heard from constituents regarding nitrate concerns and has authored or cosponsored bills aimed at the issue.
His latest bill, which failed to pass the Legislature before the end of its session, would have expanded the well compensation program so that more people would be eligible for well replacements if nitrates and bacteria were found in their water. The bill would have also lowered the threshold for well replacement from 40 milligrams per liter to 10mg/L, to bring it more in line with state health standards.
"I've been focused on just trying to get help to the people who are in the immediate line of fire," he said. "I mean, the people that are having to drink this stuff."
More: In some Wisconsin counties, contaminants from manure, fertilizer exceed recommended limits by 50%
The Legislature is done for 2024, and Cowles is not planning to run for another term as a senator. But legislators can do more to learn about the issue, he said, and the off time before the next session could be used to research and come together with proposals.
"(Farmers have) got to do something different. That's an ongoing issue," he said of farms. "But as far as what to do in the future, I don't have an idea at the moment."
Some worry that without legislated rules, no change will ever come.
Tony Wilkin-Gibart, the executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, pointed out that the standards put in place for phosphorus have led to a decade of improvement in Wisconsin waters.
"There was a limited and targeted response, and we've seen improvement as a result," he said. "We think that much more can be done. But with nitrates, we haven't even gone that far, to take those incremental steps to develop the possibility of making significant headway in the future."
Some legislation already in place is helping researchers learn more
But even without standards targeting nitrogen application to soil, there has been legislation aimed at curbing the impact of nitrates in other ways.
The Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program, or NOPP, was approved by the Legislature and signed into law in 2022. A bipartisan measure, the bill aimed to improve soil health through measures such as cover cropping, for which farmers receive a rebate.
The bill went into effect last year, with a number of farms across the state participating. The program received $1.6 million in funding for the first session of farms, and another $1 million for a second.
So far, the first round of accepted applicants are one year into the program. During 2023, they created strips of land within their fields where no nitrogen was applied. Those strips were measured and compared against the land with nitrogen applied.
Monica Schauer, UW research director for the program, said while it's hard to make inferences so early in the pilot program, especially in light of drought conditions last year, there have been promising indications.
"What we're seeing is that the soil is supplying a lot of nitrogen and the the yields at zero are higher," she said. "So this year on strips where no additional nitrogen is put out, those yields are higher than I think what a lot of folks are expecting, which is interesting, and it just kind of shows that you don't need to put out as much nitrogen fertilizer as you may have thought just based on field practices."
In addition to those zero nitrogen strips, farmers are also planting cover crops — plants that can cover the ground when there aren't harvestable crops growing — or implementing no-till practices, which means farmers do not till the soil before planting, instead letting organic material build up.
The program is about to launch its second year of implementation with a new group of farmers. The farmers from 2023 will enter their second, and final year.
In 2025, the program will accept one last batch of farmers, at which point the Legislature could choose to continue funding the program or let it fall to the wayside. Advocates say the program incentivizes farmers to learn more about sustainable practices.
More: Study: 32 of 35 wells in rural southwestern Wisconsin had fecal contamination
"Farmers care about managing nitrogen, and a lot of farmers are already doing kind of everything in their power, and they're adding all these conservation practices and they're being creative with the practices that they're using on their farm to better manage nitrogen and avoid these environmental issues," Schauer said.
"I think a lot of folks are already very conservation-minded in their approaches, and they're using this project as kind of a way to cement it, and get some more validation in what they're already doing."
But some are still skeptical. Without regulatory framework, what will hold polluters accountable if they're acting with negligence or malice?
"You can promote good practices and use incentives to do that. But when you're talking about a problem that touches so many corners of the state, you really need in addition, a regulatory response," said Wilkin-Gibart.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X at @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin grapples with solutions to nitrate pollution in ground water
