You can now see how healthy the waters you occupy are as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources released its draft of the 2022 water condition list. Every two years the DNR releases a list of water bodies and their health assessment results. The latest is called the 2022 draft as it will be turned into the EPA this coming spring.
The conditions of local waters are on par with the state overall, says DNR Surface Water Quality Assessments Coordinator Ashley Beranek. She adds that healthy waters in Door and Kewaunee Counties outweigh those that are polluted. She does say though that some of the assessments on local waters identified issues with phosphorus, but there are plans developed to combat that.
Beranek says over the last couple of assessment cycles, there’s a consistent eight or nine local water bodies added to the DNR’s state registry. Some of these added bodies can be attributed to the restoration efforts specific to the northeast Wisconsin lakeshore. In Wisconsin, 80% of lakes and rivers are assessed as healthy. Beranek says the assessment has shown a consistent 80-82% healthy rate since 2014. Your feedback on the assessment is welcomed until October 1st. The conditions list can be found here.
