HAPPY SPRING! Welcome to the Spring issue of the Wisconsin Wellhead Protection News.  It seems like everything is bursting with new life.  Time to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.

This issue contains an update on the Source Water Assessment Program and a questionnaire to get your input on how Wisconsin should plan and implement this program. We hope you will take the time to review the information below, answer the questions and return your answers. Pages 3 and 4 can be cut or torn from pages 1 and 2 and returned as a mailer. Just fold so that the business reply address shows and your address doesn't show. No stamp is necessary. Please return your responses by June 30^th. I want to thank you in advance for giving us your ideas about how this important program should proceed.

SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENT
PROGRAM UPDATE
 
The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) require states to develop and implement a Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) made up of the following requirements:

delineate source water assessment area boundaries for all public water systems;
inventory existing and potential sources of contamination within those boundaries;
analyze the susceptibility of the water systems to the contaminants; and
make the assessments available to the public.

The SWAP builds on the wellhead protection program by extending it to surface water supplies. The goal of this program is to use the assessments to protect Wisconsin's public water supplies through prevention strategies, especially those public water supplies most vulnerable to contamination. The four steps listed above must be completed for the 1100+ community systems and the nearly 11,000 non-community systems in Wisconsin. Non-community systems include parks, industries, waysides, service stations, restaurants and schools that are not part of a community water system. In addition, the 20 public water supply surface water systems must be assessed.

States must have an EPA-approved SWAP plan and have completed the assessments in order to continue granting monitoring waivers to public water systems. Wisconsin has until February 1999 to submit a SWAP plan for approval by EPA that describes how our state will carry out each of the required elements listed above. Assuming the plan is approved, it must be completed by mid­2003. Because of the short time frame, the DNR has begun and will continue to work on some portions of the SWAP program before we have EPA approval.

The following discussion describes the draft plans developed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to begin the SWAP.   On page 3 of the newsletter, we invite your answers to questions regarding the proposed public participation strategy and source water delineations for both groundwater and surface water public water supply systems.

Public Participation  Both the EPA and DNR recognize that public participation is the key to developing a successful SWAP. The DNR held statewide informational meetings last September on the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, including the SWAP.     In addition, an Ad Hoc SDWA Advisory Committee was established in September to provide advice to the DNR on implementation of the SDWA amendment requirements. The Advisory Committee includes representatives of a number of organizations with interests in the amendments including the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Wisconsin Rural Water Association (WRWA), Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the Department of Health and Family Services and environmental groups.

DNR staff have also made presentations on the SWAP at WRWA training sessions and to Wisconsin County Code Administrators, the Groundwater Coordinating Council, and the Wisconsin Environmental Health Association. We will continue to look for opportunities to present information and solicit input from organizations as we prepare the draft SWAP plan for Wisconsin.

This newsletter is also a way to get input. Page 3 contains a series of questions we would like you to answer to help us make decisions relating to carrying out the responsibilities outlined above. The DNR anticipates sending you additional questionnaires through this newsletter to get your responses to questions on issues that will need to be addressed in the SWAP plan. Your input is important to assist the DNR in preparing Wisconsin's plan for submittal to EPA next February.

Over the next several months, we also intend to create several short term public participation workgroups to address key source water issues to help the DNR decide how to implement this program. The intent is to have citizens and technical people provide input on specific issues for a short time; perhaps 1 or 2 meetings.   Additionally, the DNR envisions a series of meetings around the state late this year to get public input on the draft SWAP plan before it is submitted to EPA.   We also expect to distribute copies of the draft SWAP plan to a number of organizations and individuals for comments.

Source Water Protection Area Delineations  For delineating groundwater source water protection areas, the DNR intends to use an approach similar to that used for the vulnerability assessment program. For municipal wells, we propose to use a calculated fixed radius (CFR) determination based on 1997 pumping rates, the length of the open interval, an estimated porosity of the aquifer, and a 5-year time of travel.  The minimum radius around each well will be 1200 feet.  For municipal wells with a more advanced delineation (e.g., prepared using groundwater flow modeling), we will use that delineation instead of the CFR. For other- than-municipal community wells and non-transient non-community wells, we plan to use a fixed radius of 1200 feet and for transient non-community wells, a radius of 200 feet. Contaminant source inventories will be performed within the delineated area.

There are 31 municipal surface water intakes in Wisconsin. Many of the surface water systems are located on Lakes Michigan and Superior.  It will be impossible for Wisconsin to assess the entire Great Lakes basin, which include parts of several states and Canada. For these Great Lakes systems, we have identified watersheds or sub-watersheds based on the river inlet closest to the intake, within which contaminant source inventories will be performed.

For the intakes on Lake Winnebago, the drainage basin covers over 6,000 square miles, an area even larger than the sub-watersheds delineated for Great Lakes intakes. Recognizing that a contaminant source inventory will have to be done for the entire source water protection area that is delineated, we propose to subdivide the basin into areas which can be assessed at differing levels of detail. For example the upper reaches of the basin can be assessed by mapping land use only, whereas, the area directly surrounding the lake can be assessed by mapping specific significant potential sources of contamination. We also propose to assess the watersheds of the Great Lakes intakes at different levels of detail. We are interested in your ideas on how to subdivide each basin into watersheds and perform different levels of assessment depending on factors such as how close a watershed is to the surface water intake and land uses within subwatersheds.

We will continue to look for your help as we develop the SWAP. You can direct any questions, comments or suggestions regarding the SWAP to Jeff Helmuth - DG/2, Wisconsin DNR, P. O. Box 7921, Madison, WI  53707-7921. Phone: 608-266-5234. Fax: 608-267-7650.
Email address: helmuj@dnr.state.wi.us

SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Please check the most important way(s) the DNR should get technical input on the SWAP.  If you think more than one way is important, number them with 1 being your top choice.

____ short term technical workgroups
____ long-term technical advisory committee
____ statewide public meetings
____ newsletter questionnaires
____ presentations at association meetings
____ conducting telephone surveys
____ other ___________________________________
____ other ___________________________________

2. Besides public meetings and formation of a citizens advisory committee, are there other ways you think the DNR should get public input on the draft SWAP before it is submitted to EPA in February of 1999?
Yes ____ No _____ If yes, please describe what ways.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

3. Are there specific audiences or organizations that you think ought to be asked for input on the SWAP plan before it is finalized?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

4. Do you agree with the delineation methodology for water supplies which rely on groundwater described on the previous page?

Yes ___ No ___   If not, what suggestions would you make to improve it?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

5.  For surface water assessments of the Great Lakes and Lake Winnebago systems, we propose to divide the basins into watersheds and perform different levels of detail of potential contaminant source inventory depending on how close we are to the surface water intakes or other factors. Do you agree with this approach?  Yes ___ No ___   Please provide any suggestions you have for subdividing the basins and conducting different levels of contaminant source assessment:

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

6. Are there any comments or questions you have regarding the SWAP program? ______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

7. Check the box the best describes your affiliation:

____ public water supply
____ consulting firm
____ county
____ regional planning commission
____ other local government
____ state government
____ other ________________

8. Name and affiliation (optional)

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for answering these questions. Please return your questionnaire by June 30^th. If you would like to be involved in the development of the SWAP plan preparation, please include your name, address, phone number and/or email address or contact Jeff Helmuth or Dave Lindorff.