Fish art on Monona Bay created by Eric Anang. Photo by Amber Arnold, Wisconsin State Journal. Graphic additions by a MEJO collaborator.
PFAS was found at significant levels in Monona Bay in recent DNR tests. Where did this PFAS come from? It is unlikely that it’s all from the poison plume spewing from the Dane County Regional Airport and Truax Air National Guard base into Starkweather Creek. Monona Bay isn’t downstream of this plume, and is somewhat cut off from the rest of Lake Monona.
So, hmmm, might there be other sources? Most of the stormwater from central downtown Madison and the eastern part of the university drains into Monona Bay–it is essentially a stormwater detention pond for these areas. In addition to being in firefighting foams, PFAS compounds are in pesticides, pharmaceuticals, electronics, hydraulic oils, and a cajillion other things. Could any of these have found their way into Monona Bay via stormwater sloshing from Madison’s downtown and the university? What about PFAS from the 2019 MGE fires, and the giant smoke plumes they produced?
If DNR tested Monona Bay sediments, they would find not only high levels of PFAS, but also PCBs, mercury, lead, arsenic, copper, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) already measured in that muck. Monona Bay was identified as a PCB hotspot in the 1980s. Copper sulphate and arsenic compounds were dumped into the bay for decades to treat algae and weeds. Heavy metals and PAHs oozed into it from the Charter Street power plant.
If pesticides, plastics, nanomaterials and pharmaceuticals were measured in Monona Bay sediments, they would be found too.
Ice anglers are pulling up fish chock full of these poisons, which cycle their way up from the sediments over time and build up in fish. These anglers are basically human bioremediators–helping to “clean up” downtown Madison’s toxic cesspool by taking the poisons into their own bodies. Do they know that?
Many Monona Bay anglers, especially in the spring, summer, and fall, are Black. Many travel regularly from Milwaukee to fish there and take fish back to the city to share with family and friends. Local Hmong people love Monona Bay for the white bass–and most fish for food for their families. So these people of color are likely eating more of downtown Madison’s poisons than anyone else.
MEJO tried to raise attention to this egregrious environmental injustice for many years, to no avail (other than a few signs). See more on our past efforts on Monona Bay here.
After years of demanding more action on this issue by Madison and Dane County powers-that-be, we finally threw in the towel. Government agencies and leaders here don’t seem to care much about this highly visible environmental justice problem in the middle of privileged downtown Madison.
From the Archives: “The Mean Machine” on Lake Monona, Madison, Wis., 2006
