GROUND WATER TESTING PROGRAM
Dear Town of Round Lake Resident,
The Town of Round Lake Board of Supervisors is contacting its residents to determine your interest in participating in a private well quality study. The Town’s Plan Commission embarked on this project in order to establish a baseline map of current groundwater conditions. As our town progresses and land use changes it is important to be proactive and collect this data to be able to track changes (if any) in our groundwater quality. Answering whether water quality is getting better or worse requires baseline data as a starting point and regular monitoring of wells into the future. Governor Tony Evers is quoted as saying: “Every Wisconsinite deserves to have access to safe, clean drinking water. You should be able to trust the water coming out of your tap, period. Whether it’s our kids in the classrooms and schools, our farmers who rely on clean water for crops and livestock, or our state’s vast natural resources that are an essential part of our heritage, tradition, and outdoor recreation economy, making sure we have clean water is critically important.”
The Town of Round Lake is the first town in Sawyer County to take this critical step to help ensure the protection of public health, safety, and general welfare of its residents. Most health-related contaminants cannot be seen, tasted or smelled. The only way to determine the safety of your well water supply is to have the water tested.
The town is working with Sawyer County and the Water and Environmental Analysis Lab at UW-Stevens Point for testing a wide range of parameters including:
Bacteria Nitrates pH
Alkalinity Hardness Chloride
Conductivity Corrosivity Arsenic
Calcium Copper Iron
Lead Magnesium Manganese
Potassium Sodium Sulfur Zinc
The program will provide participating residents detailed analysis and provide for follow up by Sawyer County should any results be of concern. The Town is planning an educational session prior to the start of the program to help residents learn about the importance of safe groundwater in the Town as well as to discuss any questions that they may have. While your results will be included in our public database, your name and location will remain confidential.
This program allows homeowners, businesses and long-term renters a chance to check on the safety of their drinking water at a reduced cost ($30). If you were to check the quality of your well water independently, the cost would be well over $200. For businesses, this test would be in addition to required county or state testing. Applications will be selected based on location in order to obtain the best representation of wells across the geography of the town. Those that are selected will be contacted with specific instructions on how to collect and deposit your samples. We are planning to conduct this test program during July 5th through September 1, 2022.
If you are interested in participating, please fill out an application as soon as possible as sample kits will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis.
You may sign-up on the Sawyer County web page at Town of Round Lake Groundwater Testing | Sawyer County, WI (sawyercountygov.org)
Sincerely,
Town of Round Lake Ad Hoc Water Testing Committee:
Don Stover, Ginny Chabek, Kay Wilson, Ann Berlage