Today – on this national Imagine a Day Without Water – 28 environmental and social justice organizations from around Wisconsin sent a joint statement to dozens of state legislators with known PFAS releases in their home districts.
The coalition, which includes groups based in impacted communities, supports a comprehensive state bill known as the CLEAR Act. For months now, Senate Bill 302/Assembly Bill 321 has been completely stalled because certain legislative committees are blocking public hearings necessary to move the bills forward.
“As it stands right now, public water systems in Wisconsin are not required to test our drinking water for PFAS,” the groups wrote. “The most important consequence of doing nothing is exposure to undetected PFAS contamination in our drinking water and our environment.”
Wisconsin lags behind other states – including Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts – that have already enacted enforceable health-based standards for PFAS. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that are very persistent in the environment and in the human body – meaning they don’t break down and they can accumulate over time.
The joint statement to legislators also provides answers to 10 key questions, including why strong regulation of PFAS is necessary to protect human health and the environment in Wisconsin.
“The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has some authority under current regulations but additional state regulations will: (1) make clear the DNR’s authority specific to PFAS – which industry is already challenging, (2) provide state agencies with the necessary resources to tackle PFAS contamination in Wisconsin, and (3) require a much shorter timeline for action,” the groups said.
“Presently it can take as long as 10 years to get standards on the books and affected communities need enforceable standards now,” the organizations emphasized.
Studies in humans with PFAS exposure have shown that certain PFAS may affect growth, learning, and behavior of infants and older children, lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant, interfere with the body’s natural hormones, increase cholesterol levels, affect the immune system, and increase the risk of cancer.
The coalition’s statement is part of the statewide PFAS Community Campaign which is coordinated by CSWAB.
