La Crosse – This morning, Representative Billings held a press conference to announce that she is introducing the Water Quality Notification Act to help safeguard public health in Wisconsin. The bill would require that the Department of Natural Resources notify county and tribal health departments when they discover an exceedance in groundwater standards, including proposed PFAS standards. Representative Billings released the following statement:
“I am proud to introduce the Water Quality Notification Act, which will give residents and counties the information they need to identify and address harmful contaminants in groundwater. Everyone in Wisconsin should have safe, clean water flowing from their taps and families deserve to know if the water they and their children are drinking is putting them at risk of serious health issues.”
“Contaminants like nitrates, PFAS, and arsenic are all odorless, colorless, and tasteless and they can only be identified in groundwater through testing. Families who receive information from their county or tribal health department would be able to take advantage of local and county-level testing efforts, learn about remediation and filtration options, and potentially receive assistance from state-level initiatives like the Well Compensation Grant Program.”
“This is a good-government policy that would ensure that the state government is communicating urgent public health information to counties. I collaborated with multiple county health departments, advocacy groups, agriculture groups, and other stakeholders when drafting this bill. It has bipartisan support because this common-sense proposal is about protecting the people of Wisconsin from polluted water. I am proud to introduce this legislation today and I am hopeful that my colleagues in the Assembly will join my efforts to safeguard public health by cosponsoring this bill.”
