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We Protect what our communities depend upon.
Drinking Water
Well testing & education campaign - 2019
Driftless Area Water Study
Until recent years, less than 1% of all wells in Crawford and neighboring counties had been tested: we bragged about our water but did not know what our drinking water quality really was. In 2019 Crawford Stewardship Project (and independently, the Tainter Creek Farmer-Led Watershed Council) decided to find out and launched our Groundwater Testing and Education Campaign. CSP tested 58 wells throughout the county but knew this was not enough and that we needed more official partners in this project.
In 2020, despite Covid restrictions, CSP launched the Driftless Area Water Study (DAWS) along with core partners the Crawford, Richland, and Vernon County Conservation and Health Departments, and with additional input and support from UW Extension, WI Farm Bureau, and other local organizations. Since the first round of nearly 400 well tests, there have been several more coordinated and subsidised testing cycles among our three counties, each one adding valuable data, to the point that we now have enough tests to make some claims, if vague, about the quality of our drinking water!
Drinking water quality in our three counties is not worse than the state average, but it is also not notably any better as a whole. There are some impacted areas, and some wells were found to contain e-coli and several were well above the health standard for nitrates, but the majority of people in the area are drinking safe water, and many do indeed still have some of the best water in the world flowing from the tap.
Some trends are becoming visible when comparing land use to drinking water quality, confirming, as has been shown in broader studies, that risk for nitrate contamination increases with proximity to row-crops and manure lagoons. [citation needed]
WEAL drinking water map link
The greatest finding is that we are only scratching the surface…
Test your well!
Private well testing info…
Karst maps
Karst fact sheets
Karst posters
Surface Water
Whether you fish, swim, or paddle, we all know our surface waters are a major part of what makes the Driftless special.
Contact:
Omaru Heras, Program Coordinator - Water Quality Monitoring
oheras@crawfordstewardship.org
Reports:
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Wisconsin WAV database (includes data collected by CSP)
Our ongoing work includes:
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Facilitating at least one Water Action Volunteers (WI DNR program and UW-Extension) Water Quality Monitoring Training in April/May of each year.
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Coordinating:
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Active volunteers at 13 sites (streams and springs) of specific concern in Crawford county, ensuring data logging.
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High school students at a site next to North Crawford District School in an educational collaboration.
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Volunteers at two sites being intermittently monitored for Microplastics.
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Supporting citizen monitors in neighboring counties through coordination, logistical help, and guidance towards available resources.
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[...add in testing, working with labs, analyzing/publishing results, and reporting/recording to agencies.]
Significant Results:
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2008 – 2021: Over 100 volunteers have been trained in alliance with the WAV Program (WI DNR and UW-Extension) & Valley Stewardship Network, and the 2017 Water Rangers of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. There are 30 current active volunteers in 8 sites of concern and other local sites.
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2013: Crawford Stewardship Project (CSP) received the Citizen-based Monitoring Award for Group Effort at the Citizen-based Monitoring Conference in Wisconsin Rapids held by UW-Extension and the WI DNR.
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2016: WI WAV Stream Monitoring Award in the “Adult Volunteer” category won by CSP volunteers Ellen Brooks (also a CSP Board member) & Dave Hackett.
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2018: WI WAV Stream Monitoring Award in the “Adult Volunteer” category won by CSP volunteers Debbie & Bill Hiller.
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Due to the constant submission of more than 10 years of data, Sites # 10032119, # 10044917 and #10052569 were placed on the impaired waters lists in 2018, 2020 and 2022, respectively.
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2022: The WI WAV Stream Monitoring Award in the “Adult Volunteer” category was given to CSP volunteers Kathy (who also was a CSP Board member and staff) & Paul Byrne.
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2023-2024: 15 volunteers passionately monitoring 13 sites (8 of specific concern, 3 requested by the DNR, and one for young students).
What you can do:
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The spring trainings consist of three stream monitoring levels available to people who want to join existing sites of concern and tributaries of the WI and Kickapoo Rivers in Crawford Co. Monitoring is done once a month for an hour or so from May till October, and is a great and fun way to help out while getting outside!
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Level 1 (first year): teaches entry level volunteers how to monitor dissolved oxygen, temperature, transparency, streamflow, habitat assessment, and macroinvertebrates (biotic index), using Water Action Volunteers (WAV) methods. An excellent way for everyone to participate in citizen science and to get to know their local waters better. No previous experience necessary!
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Level 2: brings volunteers to the next level of independence, and involves using more sophisticated devices to test for dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature.
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Level 3: involves research and special projects, such as Total Phosphorus testing. We also include and sample for E. coli, total coliform, background bacteria, fungi, Staphylococcus sp & aureus, MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus), and DNA marker for specific feces sources. State and local labs are pillars in this process.
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The data collected gives us a baseline of stream health, which is critical for determining how various types of land use affects our watershed. Every result is carefully recorded, shared publicly, and submitted to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Extension University of WI-Madison, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Pollution & Extraction
Industrial extraction threatens local communities through wealth extraction, local resource depletion, and environmental contamination.
Industrial operations threaten local communities by polluting water & air, damaging local roads, and by industry consolidation that puts
local human-scale operations out of business.
Our approaches:
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We watchdog the siting of polluting industries in our communities, and monitor those already here.
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We alert residents and landowners about public processes that could impact community health, local control, and natural resources.
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We facilitate bottom-up communication to empower those most impacted to participate productively in relevant decision-making processes.
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We catalyze citizen groups & build grassroots networks.
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Since 2009 we’ve catalyzed and supported over a dozen new groups at local, regional, and state levels, working on a range of issues from mining to agriculture to protectors of unique local ecosystems.
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We work with with allies, experts, media, and government, coordinating and aligning our organizational strategy with wider movements.
Our work has directly resulted in hundreds of letters to the editor and contributed to articles on issues related to our mission. We strive to promote the good work and events of many other regional organizations. CSP and our allies prompted over 1200 comments opposing one recent CAFO permit alone, and have run many campaigns facilitating public input and resulting in a broad array of resolutions, moratoriums, and ordinances at township and county levels over the years. We also maintain an active presence online through social media, our website, e-news and actions, and a community calendar and create and send a biannual newsletter with interviews and our own investigative reporting.
Industrial farming
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csp history
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resources
Mining
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csp history
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resources