Wisconsin homeowners are facing a devastating reality: A new report shows that their drinking water — often from private wells — isn’t actually safe to drink.
What’s happening?
In Casco, Wisconsin, Tyler Frye thought he’d found his dream home when he bought a new house in 2022. But that dream soured quickly when his family’s well water tested at 26.6 milligrams per liter of nitrate — more than double the Environmental Protection Agency’s safe limit of 10 milligrams, according to Sentient Media.
While there are compensation grants for contaminated wells, Frye doesn’t qualify based on income. “No one’s really given me a solution on what to do,” he told reporters.
He’s far from alone. Roughly one in 10 Wisconsin residents relies on private wells with unsafe nitrate levels. The report from the Alliance for the Great Lakes found that over 90% of nitrate contamination comes from agricultural sources — mainly fertilizer and manure runoff.
Why is this concerning?
This isn’t just an environmental issue — it’s a human one. Exposure to nitrates raises the risk of serious health problems, including thyroid disease, birth defects, and “blue baby syndrome” in infants…