Dunn County staff report groundwater testing expansion, residents urge ban on land application of septage

A Menomonie resident urged Dunn County officials to ask the County Board to press state legislators to ban land application of septic or septage waste, while county staff described expanding a groundwater well‑testing program that officials say will take years to produce trendable data.

Neil Cook, a Menomonie resident, told the committee he had reviewed a list of sites where septage is land‑applied and said the number and siting raised concerns. “I spoke to you, a few meetings ago about spreading human waste on the ground,” Cook said, describing sites he considered to be near wells and some he deemed not meeting percolation standards. “Because of that, we’re contaminating the groundwater and we’re also contaminating the wells … that might be near these sites,” he said, and asked the committee to request a county board resolution recommending a state ban on spreading septic waste in Wisconsin.

Why it matters: County staff said the monitoring program is intended both to identify local nitrate hotspots and to give residents actionable information about private well quality. Officials said repeated, consistently timed…