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 samples from the same wells over several years are needed to detect meaningful trends in nitrate concentrations.

Chase, a Land and Water staff member, told the committee the program has used leftover ARPA funds and outside partners. “We collected 263,” Chase said of last year’s county samples, and he added that the county partnered with the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection on additional sampling. He said the county hopes to again “shoot for 300 wells” this year and that, as of the meeting, 107 residents had signed up for testing.

Chase said county testing has focused on nitrates and metals while some state sampling included a broader pesticide panel. He described spatial sampling bias: some townships had many more samples than others, so results are not yet a county‑wide picture. Staff stressed the program’s two goals: long‑term trend analysis and public education to encourage well testing.

County health department lab certification: Committee members were told the Dunn County Health Department laboratory recently received state certification for bacterial and nitrate testing. Staff said the county intends to run nitrate testing through that local lab this year, shortening turnaround and logistics compared with the prior lab arrangement.

Staff cautioned about regulatory limits and practical obstacles to a local ban on land‑applied septage. A county staff member noted legal and operational constraints: counties may raise concerns to state legislators, but “anytime we wanna look at banning things, we have to ask what happens” next and identify alternatives for wastewater management, and county authority may be limited by state law. The committee discussed whether to investigate areas where percolation or siting is questionable and whether targeted testing (for indicators or pharmaceuticals) could help identify sources of contamination; staff said limited prior work had used such indicators in small samples.

Groundwater Ad Hoc recommendations and citation authority: Chase reviewed the Groundwater Ad Hoc committee’s progress report and recommendations, including stormwater management, agricultural practices, and producer‑led grazing projects. Committee members discussed citation authority under the county’s ag performance standards and manure storage ordinance. Staff said citation language exists in the county ordinance but that implementation mechanisms (administrative procedures and use of citation authority) were not yet in place. The committee agreed it was not an urgent priority now but decided to keep the item on the work list and mark it as requiring future clarification.

What’s next: Staff will continue recruitment for the 2025 sampling round, aim to repeat testing over multiple years to enable trend analysis (staff said roughly five years of repeat sampling is commonly needed to detect trends), and coordinate uploads of nitrate results to county mapping tools. The committee did not take a formal vote on any policy change about septage; a resident request to seek a state ban was recorded as public comment and will be considered for future agendaing and possible referral to the County Board.

Ending: Committee members encouraged more resident participation in the monitoring program and suggested staff prepare materials and potential draft resolutions for future meetings if members wish to pursue legislative outreach.