NORTHEAST WIS. – The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board said at its Jan. 28 board meeting the state’s drinking water standards for PFAS should match the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s, addressing an issue the City of Marinette is familiar with.
Marinette’s community water system contains far lower levels of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) than the U.S. EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) allows, said Warren Howard, water/wastewater operations manager at the City of Marinette.
PFAS are chemicals used in coatings, waterproof materials and other applications. These “forever chemicals” don’t break down easily and they’ve been linked to health issues, including cancer, neurological issues and thyroid issues.
The U.S. EPA in 2024 announced new, lower limits for six PFAS categories.
“Our numbers are well below (the EPA’s limit), almost three times below it. We’re comfortably below it,” Howard said.
In the City of Peshtigo, Director of Public Works Matt Decur said 2025 samplings of the city’s deep wells for 29 PFAS showed the level of PFAS was below EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Levels. In 2023, sampling for PFOA and PFOS returned “nondetectable” results, Decur said.
“Based on these past results, it is not anticipated that reduced MCLs will require any changes outside of additional monitoring and testing. If future test results exceed the MCLs, the city may be required to install treatment systems or drill new wells,” Decur said.
Not every community in Wisconsin is expected to meet the new standards, however, said Cindy Boyle, a clean water advocate from the Town of Peshtigo.
About 100 Wisconsin public water systems, including some operated at small businesses, could exceed the new limits, a DNR spokesperson said.
According to the new rule, public water systems would have until 2029 to comply with the new limits. For those systems out of compliance, the DNR would work with them on a corrective action, such as drilling a new well, improving the treatment process or connecting to an existing safe water source.
The Natural Resources Board’s decision to approve the U.S. EPA standards should increase testing of community drinking water.
While Boyle and others from a group called Save Our H20 have advocated for reforms and more funds to remediate PFAS in groundwater, the issue has continued to affect homeowners, many of whom opted to allow Tyco to construct new deep wells on their properties to avoid PFAS-contaminated drinking water.
“In our community, there hasn’t been much change,” Boyle said.
She added that most residents don’t live in the area provided with new deep wells, which were installed by Tyco on a “wait-and-see basis.”
Town of Peshtigo Town Board Chair Jennifer Friday directed questions to the water tab on the town’s official website.
The information includes a January notice about the DNR approval of Johnson Controls/Tyco’s plans to monitor 24 private wells in the potable water sampling area that haven’t received a new deep well. A reporter’s request for comment to Johnson Controls Inc. wasn’t responded to by press time.
Tyco has said it would take responsibility for a contamination in a portion of the Town of Peshtigo where PFAS — according to the DNR — originating from the company has contaminated groundwater.
While the Town of Peshtigo filed a lawsuit against Johnson Controls Inc.’s Tyco unit several years ago, Boyle said she hasn’t heard a word about it.
“The Town’s lawsuit against Tyco is still pending,” Friday said in an email, noting she couldn’t comment on pending litigation. Information about the lawsuit’s status couldn’t be confirmed by press time.
On the national level, Boyle said she is concerned some lawmakers are pushing for relaxed PFAS standards, including calls to eliminate the limits entirely. If passed, draft legislation could speed the EPA’s review process for new chemicals.
“Never have we seen speeding up safety interpretations and assessments meaning safer results,” Boyle said.
The legislation could result in new, lower MCLs for PFAS, putting the public’s health at risk, said Steve Elmore, program director of DNR’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Program, a presenter at the WNRB meeting.
“Although the federal government is trying to roll them back, it doesn’t mean they will succeed. It’s being challenged legally,” Boyle said.
New state limits wouldn’t apply to private wells operated with groundwater since it is regulated differently than community systems, Elmore said.
“The groundwater standards regulate activities on the landscape so we don’t contaminate groundwater that then contaminates our private wells and public wells. We don’t require sampling of PFAS for private wells; it’s the responsibility of the well owner to maintain the quality of the water,” Elmore said.
The DNR has started an action for groundwater standards for PFAS, he said.
“We’re working with the Department of Health Services on a rule package. The economic impact statement will be issued for public comment,” Elmore said, without specifying a timeframe.
After considering whether talk among federal lawmakers to abandon PFAS rules for community drinking water warranted delaying the Wisconsin board’s vote, board members said they didn’t want to wait.
Instead, the board voted unanimously for Wisconsin’s limits to be the same as the national limits.
“It just seems to me there’s an opportunity here to manage this,” said Natural Resources Board President Bill Smith in voicing his support for the resolution before the board passed it unanimously.
If the board had taken no action by February 2027 — when the scope statement is set to expire — the rule-making process would start over and Wisconsin’s community water systems might find themselves answering directly to the U.S. EPA, Elmore said.
The EPA has made available about $1 billion annually in federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and homes with private wells, Elmore said.
Wisconsin received $13.1 million in federal funds for PFAS remediation in fiscal year 2025, $9.5 million in fiscal 2024 and $25 million in a combined allocation for 2022 and 2023, according to EPA documents.
Without the board’s action, the state’s PFOS and PFOA limits of 70 ppt could remain and put municipalities, small businesses and some schools out of compliance with federal regulations, Elmore said.
During comments at the WNRB meeting, Wisconsin Conservation Voters government affairs manager Peter Burress said the risk of noncompliance is an estimated $1.13 billion in health impacts, including cancer.
“We have to be way on the side of safety,” Howard said.
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