Concerns about chemically contaminated water are washing over the nation. Both federal and state agencies are in the process of upgrading standards and contributing millions in an effort to eliminate newly-identified harmful chemicals in water supplies.
Any well that serves at least 25 of the same people for at least six months per year is considered a public water system and would have to comply with new quality standards, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
WCRIS and several like-minded organizations recognize the hazards of consuming contaminated drinking water and understand the importance of decontaminating it.
WCRIS was tapped by the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) at the end of last year to represent not only Wisconsin private schools, but private schools nationwide, in federal conversations about regulating these hazardous substances (abbreviated as PFAS) in well water supplies.
WCRIS was selected because of its outstanding reputation and its significant number of rural private schools.
As a result of our involvement in round table discussions with national organizations, WCRIS was cited in a letter sent this week from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to the EPA in response to a proposed rule about drinking water regulations.
WCRIS stressed that in order for safety measures to be actionable, they have to be doable and realistic. School principals have not been trained as water quality scientists.
WCRIS also noted the immense cost and implications of the proposed water quality regulations for private schools on a private well, something the agency didn’t seem to have considered in the rule-making process. Read about it here on page 5, second paragraph.
WCRIS also sent a letter to state Senator Eric Wimberger, who is the sponsor of a proposed bill that addresses Wisconsin’s looming crisis of contaminated well water. Read that letter here. Many states will adopt the EPA’s standards in their own legislation once enacted.
Entities that use private well systems that serve the public could have to regularly run complicated and costly tests on their water supply. And, depending on the results, possibly manage and operate complex and expensive (hundreds of thousands of dollars) filtering systems to comply with changing water quality standards.
Although state and federal entities are planning to allocate money for these expenses, funds may still be difficult for small entities to access, encumber other regulations or simply not be enough to cover testing, continuous operation or maintenance of such requirements.
The SBA letter requested that the EPA be flexible with compliance for small water systems; phase in the mandated levels of contaminants; and allow additional time for compliance based on funding availability.
Meanwhile, although costly, WCRIS recommends that schools on private wells look for an opportunity or consider options for connecting to a municipal water line. This will help private schools access safe water for staff and students, as well as bypass impending and likely costlier water quality requirements.
Because expensive requirements with a lack of funding could be on the horizon, WCRIS included addressing water quality as a use for our proposed state Health and Safety Grant Program for Private K-12 Schools. You can support it here if you haven’t already.
