Study: Majority of contaminated wells in local counties contained fecal matter

Bree Levine by Bree Levine and Associated Press

A new study shows a large amount of contaminated wells in southwest Wisconsin are contaminated because of fecal matter.

According to researchers working on the Southwest Wisconsin Groundwater and Geology Study of Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Counties, 32 out of 35 wells tested positive for fecal matter, including human and livestock samples.

The 35 wells were randomly selected from a list of wells already known to be contaminated with illness-causing pathogens, such as salmonella, rotavirus and cryptosporidium.

Researchers emphasized the study doesn’t mean there’s region-wide contamination, because the sampling came from wells already known to be contaminated.

The study hopes to show what is causing the contamination and how to keep it from happening in the future.

The work was led by U.S. Agricultural Research Service research microbiologist Mark Borchardt, others in his agency and the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey.

Monetary backing came from the counties, the agencies and local groups. Additional testing in the counties is likely, with the next round set for early August.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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