Gov. Tony Evers signed two bipartisan bills which facilitate the release of the $125 million to address PFAS statewide.
The bills allocate about $80 million from the PFAS Trust Fund to a community grant program to assist local governments in combating and remediating PFAS contamination in their communities. Eligible activities include:
- Sampling private wells;
- Installing PFAS treatment at a public water system;
- Creating a new public water system or connecting private well owners to a public water system in areas where there is PFAS contamination in the private water supply;
- Sampling drinking water for PFAS in schools and child care centers;
- Sampling for PFAS in high-capacity irrigation wells and soil on farmland;
- Sampling for PFAS in biosolids and wastewater before it is spread on farmland;
- Sampling for PFAS in groundwater and private water wells that are part of a monitoring plan at public solid waste landfills;
- Investigating PFAS contamination to determine the most appropriate remedy; and
- Conducting immediate and interim actions to mitigate, treat, or dispose of PFAS contamination in air, land, waters, or other natural resources in the state.
Also included is a dedicated grant program of $5.25 million to assist public airports and certain businesses with tackling PFAS contamination. Eligible remedial actions for this grant program include actions taken to control or minimize the discharge of PFAS from the site, as well as restoration activities to ensure the site no longer poses a threat to human health.
The laws provide $35 million for an expanded Well Compensation Grant Program to assist homeowners and businesses with private wells to ensure their drinking water is safe from PFAS. This proposal expands the eligibility limits for this program to allow more Wisconsinites to utilize the program and also allows non-community water supplies, schools, and childcare facilities to receive funding.
The laws also allocate funding for the provision of emergency bottled water for private well owners when PFAS contamination in drinking water is discovered, additional research activities related to PFAS, and support for the State Lab of Hygiene and other labs to assist in evaluating samples for PFAS.
The laws also create 10 new positions and appropriate $1.3 million from the general fund to existing DNR appropriations for the following purposes:
- $118,900 for general program operations relating to conservation, the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, and management of the state’s fishery resources and the trapper education program;
- $929,900 for the management and protection of the state’s water resources and for environmental quality and environmental management purposes; and
- $261,600 for communications, customer services, aids administration, watershed management, and environmental analysis and sustainability.
