Groundwater Quantity and Quality Issues in a Water-Rich Region: Examples from Wisconsin, USA

John Luczaj and Kevin Masarik
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John Luczaj: Department of Natural & Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, WI 54311, USA
Kevin Masarik: Center for Watershed Science and Education, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, WI 54481, USA

Resources, 2015, vol. 4, issue 2, 1-35

Abstract: The State of Wisconsin is located in an unusually water-rich portion of the world in the western part of the Great Lakes region of North America. This article presents an overview of the major groundwater quantity and quality concerns for this region in a geologic context. The water quantity concerns are most prominent in the central sand plain region and portions of a Paleozoic confined sandstone aquifer in eastern Wisconsin. Water quality concerns are more varied, with significant impacts from both naturally occurring inorganic contaminants and anthropogenic sources. Naturally occurring contaminants include radium, arsenic and associated heavy metals, fluoride, strontium, and others. Anthropogenic contaminants include nitrate, bacteria, viruses, as well as endocrine disrupting compounds. Groundwater quality in the region is highly dependent upon local geology and land use, but water bearing geologic units of all ages, Precambrian through Quaternary, are impacted by at least one kind of contaminant.

Keywords: groundwater; quality; quantity; Wisconsin; arsenic; strontium; fluoride; nitrate; bacteria; wells (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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