In the wake of another Wisconsin community being negatively impacted by PFAS contamination, leaders in the Wisconsin Legislature are aiming at the issue with the state’s budget surplus. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Department of Health Services (DHS), and Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) announced on Friday that they issued well-specific drinking water advisories in the Town of Stella in Oneida County. The advisories were needed after dozens of residences found high concentrations of PFAS in their water. The state regulators issued a similar PFAS-related warning to those who might eat fish caught in Lake Wausau and the Stevens Point Flowage. The human-made chemicals are also known as “forever chemicals” and have been linked to certain cancers, liver damage, and decreased fertility. State legislators are now looking at the state’s nearly $7 billion budget surplus as a starting point to get something done. Clean Water Action Council Executive Director Dean Hoegger says it is an important issue that needs money to address it.

Hoegger says PFAS and nitrate pollution were the two main topics he addressed when Governor Tony Evers recently held budget listening sessions in Green Bay.