Wisconsin potato & vegetable growers support well remediation law changes

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Wisconsin potato & vegetable growers support well remediation law changes

Wisconsin’s potato and vegetable growers would like to see the state’s well remediation program expanded.  WPVGA’s Executive Director Tamas Houlihan tells Brownfield he testified in favor of State Senate Bill 678.  He says the existing well program doesn’t meet the need. “It only allows folks to apply for the well remediation if they have levels of nitrate greater than 40 parts per million, and there are not that many wells that qualify, and it also has a livestock component in that the contamination must be due to livestock issues.”

Tamas Houlihan

Houlihan says nitrate contamination is also found away from livestock and he says state and EPA guidelines don’t match, so his farmers would like the law updated. “We need to expand that program and make it available to homeowners whose wells have ten parts per million or higher because that exceeds the EPA limit.”

Other provisions in this bill support conservation grants and producer-led watershed program eligibility. 

Houlihan also testified in favor of Senate Bill 677, which if passed would create a nitrogen optimization pilot program, provide cover crop insurance rebates, and create an additional state hydrologist position.

Companion bills have been introduced in the Assembly.

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