Poll shows water quality, drinking water safety worries Wisconsinites - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Poll shows water quality, drinking water safety worries Wisconsinites

What do PFAS do to the body? Why more Wisconsinites are asking that question.

Addressing contamination and protecting drinking water will require bipartisan cooperation.

Polling by Marquette University shows a growing number of Wisconsin residents are worried about "forever chemicals" in their water as testing for PFAS has revealed more contamination in private wells and public drinking water supplies.

We partnered with the Marquette Law School Poll to survey Wisconsin residents about their perceptions of PFAS risk and water quality in their communities in June 2022 and 2023. This research is part of a larger, two-year, multi-disciplinary collaboration at Marquette University examining multiple dimensions of PFAS contamination and remediation.

The polling shows even though public opinion has polarized a bit around the issue, majorities of Republicans and Democrats continue to express concern about PFAS. Moreover, rural residents have become more concerned about the issue, helping to shrink the rural-urban divide in opinion.

We found that many Wisconsin residents are worried about PFAS and that concern has grown over the last year. Roughly 6 out of 10 respondents expressed some level of concern about PFAS contamination in their drinking water in June 2022. Nearly twice as many said they were “very concerned” (31 percent) than said they were “not at all concerned” (18 percent). Five percent said they didn’t know. One year later, a greater number – nearly 7 out of 10 – responded that they were “very concerned” (34 percent) or “somewhat concerned” (35 percent).

A growing body of scientific evidence links PFAS to increased risk of certain cancers, high blood pressure, low birth rate, developmental delays, and harm to immune and reproductive systems. The US Geological Survey estimates that nearly half of the country’s tap water could be contaminated with at least one PFAS compound

More women worried about what PFAS do to the body

Concern is widespread across the state, but a few individual-level differences are worth noting. Wisconsin residents who reported paying attention to politics, whether there’s an election going on or not, were more worried about PFAS than those who reported paying little or no attention. Women expressed greater concern than men, reflecting a long-standing pattern of gender differences in risk perception more broadly.

In the June 2022 poll, respondents who reported getting their drinking water from public water systems expressed more concern about PFAS and the safety of their water supply than those on private wells. In the June 2023 poll, the difference between the two was smaller and no longer statistically significant. It is possible that recent findings of PFAS contamination in rural communities are shrinking rural-urban differences in perceptions of PFAS risk, though further survey research is needed to assess these changes in public opinion.

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Finally, we observe a partisan gap: Democrats and Independents expressed slightly more concern about PFAS than Republicans, all else equal. That said, we should not overstate the difference: majorities of both Republicans (58%) and Democrats (78%) in our June 2023 poll expressed concern about PFAS. And both groups showed a nearly identical bump in concern between 2022 and 2023.

Wisconsin lawmakers approved new standards for drinking water

Last year, Wisconsin lawmakers approved a new drinking water standard for two of the most widely used PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The new standard requires that communities test public water systems for PFOA and PFOS. Water systems that exceed 70 parts per trillion (for either of the chemicals or a combination of the two) must take corrective action. Public water utilities are also required to issue a public notice for any amount over 20 parts per trillion (ppt) and disclose PFAS levels in their annual consumer confidence reports.

Voluntary tests of private wells conducted by the Department of Natural Resources and others show that PFAS contamination is not just a concern for public water utilities. Nearly 30 percent of Wisconsin residents rely on private groundwater wells that are not connected to a public water system for their drinking water.

We also asked respondents about their perceptions of safety of the drinking water supply in their community, a question that the Marquette Law School Poll has surveyed several times over the last few years. Because question wording was unchanged, we can compare responses over time.

In 2018, there was a notable uptick in public concern, particularly in the WOW counties and Milwaukee County, likely reflecting discussion of Waukesha’s approved plan to divert Lake Michigan water for public water supply (under an amended court order to comply with radium standards) and how the city of Milwaukee was handling lead in drinking water. We also see increased concern about water quality in 2023 – a 7-percentage point increase from the previous year. Concern rose the most in regions of the state outside of Milwaukee and Madison.

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The one exception was the La Crosse-Eau Claire region where concerns about water quality fell slightly over the last year. Eau Claire took action on PFAS contamination of its drinking water wells in late 2021, which could explain the increased confidence in the region’s water supply, and has also sued PFAS manufacturers in a bid to recover its mitigation costs.

Communities – here in Wisconsin and around the world – are working to protect vital water resources. However, communicating PFAS risk is challenging. Wisconsin’s drinking water standard is new and does not yet apply to groundwater. A federal regulation, expected later this year, may set a lower PFAS limit. Testing will likely raise concerns about liability and cost. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals will soon decide a case on whether the state has the legal authority to enforce PFAS cleanups pursuant to its authority under the Wisconsin Spills Law. Scientific understanding of the adverse health impacts of PFAS is also evolving.

Addressing contamination and protecting drinking water will require bipartisan cooperation. Wisconsin residents appear ready for such public deliberation and action.

Amber Wichowsky is Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at Marquette University. David Strifling is the Director of Marquette Law School's Water Law and Policy Initiative and Adjunct Professor of Law. Jill McNew-Birren is Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership at Marquette University.