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SOMETHING IN THE WATER
Thursday, September 17, 2020
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Council urges legislature for PFAS, nitrate By Emma Grenzebach STAFF WRITER
The Groundwater Coordinating Council (GCC) of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources released their annual report on Sept. 1, containing recommendations for the state legislature. The report’s priority recommendations include protecting groundwater from nitrate, addressing public health and environmental concerns regarding PFAS and evaluating groundwater for other pathogens. The GCC’s report paid increased attention to PFAS, which have been detected in municipal and private drinking water sources throughout the state. PFAS are a group of synthetic, potentially harmful chemicals used in household products and industrial processes. According to the GCC’s recommendations, PFAS exposure
“may affect childhood development, decrease female fertility, increase the risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women, increase cholesterol levels, increase the risk of thyroid disease and decrease antibody response to vaccines.” “It’s been in there in the past as part of emerging contaminants…The feeling was PFAS have definitely emerged. They are an issue,” Bruce Reinecke, groundwater section leader for the DNR, told the Wisconsin State Journal. The surfacing of PFAS is not the only concern in this year’s report. The GCC also paid close attention to nitrate, which remains the state’s most common water contaminant. Rep. Katrina Shankland, D-Stevens Point, is pushing the legislature to listen to the GCC’s
recommendations and give them more resources. Shankland was Vice-Chair of the Speaker’s Task Force on Water Quality, which probed water quality issues across Wisconsin from March 2019 to February 2020. After its initial investigation, the task force put forward and passed 10 bills in the Assembly with unanimous support. According to Shankland, these bills varied from “sweeping measures on private wealth, septic systems and nitrate contamination to a bill for PFAS contamination and to invest in clean water at the UW-System in terms of research and workforce development.” While these bills include many of the same goals as the GCC’s annual report, they have not yet been taken up by the Senate. “The State Senate hasn’t acted yet and that’s really frustrating
because the Assembly passed these bills in February,” said Rep. Shankland when asked about the barriers to passing the bills. “Anytime you can get the State Assembly to pass a bill unanimously, that says a lot.” Shankland said another obstacle is the COVID-19 pandemic. Shankland worries that the economic downturn could present funding issues, but she also said the legislature needs to invest in clean water now in order to prevent harm and save taxpayer money in the long run. Besides the health effects of PFAS, nitrate and other pathogens, Wisconsinites’ quality of life is also a concern. More than one third of the water used for commercial and industrial purposes comes from groundwater supplies, according to the DNR. The DNR said pesticides are
also estimated to be present in about 40 percent of private drinking wells in Wisconsin. Regions with high agricultural activity have higher frequencies of detections of pesticides and nitrate. “We need the Senate to do their jobs; they need to convene,” said Rep. Shankland. “Second of all, we need every member of the legislature, not just some of them, to understand that when someone can’t drink water from their tap it’s a public health issue, but it’s also a quality of life issue.” Shankland also said that county-level organizations have signed unanimous or nearly unanimous resolutions calling for the Senate to convene. She also said constituents have been calling their Senators, asking them what they are doing to prompt the legislature to take action.
New ASM chair seeking change in suburban communities By Sophia Vento STAFF WRITER
Robyn George, a first year student and the new Legislative Affairs Chair of ASM at UW-Madison, is hoping to create change in suburban communities through the non-profit organization Suburbs for Equality, where she currently serves as founder and president. Suburbs for Equality, per its website, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which strives to utilize the disproportionate economic and political resources found in suburban communities in order to achieve equality and bridge the opportunity gap between urban and suburban communities. The organization also emphasizes the importance of equality among all communities through local involvement and civic engagement, especially among young adults and elected officials. Created in response to the recent protests concerning racial injustice around the world, Suburbs for Equality and its explicit messaging has a strong personal connection to George and her experience growing up as a person of color in Wisconsin. “I got the idea while organizing my first educational rally/ protest in my hometown,” said George. “I felt very alone and organizing in the suburbs was very different from organizing
in urban areas where a lot of the leaders I knew were from. Things like going to meet with the police chief, reading over state statutes that regard liabilities really scared me and I could’ve really used a support system.” “We realized that, due to the economic and political privilege we, as community members of suburban areas, [have], we have a specific duty to educate our community, as well as assist with uplifting those in other communities.” George moved from Milwaukee to the suburbs around six years ago and found it to be quite a culture shock, to say the least. “My senior year of high school, I was the only black person in five of my six classes, which nearly all happened to be Advanced Placement courses,” said George. “This alone illustrated the intense segregation between Milwaukee and it’s suburbs, as well as the opportunity and achievement gaps between the two environments. I also saw many of my classmates of color falling behind in school and seeming rather unmotivated. I never want a young student of color to feel discouraged academically because of the color of their skin, where they’re from or what they have going on at home.” George has a strong interest in public policy and governance. Last year she served as a Senate Scholar with the Wisconsin State Assembly, where she became well versed with the
importance of directly advocating for legislation and communicating with legislators. “Showing up to elections is always the number one priority, but in my opinion, the path to true equality cannot be made without utilizing those other forms of democracy,” George explained. “Lobby, email your elected officials, hold them accountable and remind them that they work for you. Propose policy that you feel strongly about, and see how many other people in your community see a need for that policy, because it’s likely more than you think.” Suburbs for Equality currently has a campaign advocat-
ing for an Equity and Inclusion Commission in Menomonee Falls, the home of the high school where George graduated from this past spring. Education is also crucial to Suburbs for Equality’s mission. The organization has established a Book Club which strives to “broaden the understanding of [the] members to the BIPOC experience and history,” and has created Community Facilitated Discussions that emphasize the discussion of BIPOC issues in communities. “A mentor of mine...said, ‘Miseducation is when you aren’t given the resources to
COURTESY OF ROBYN GEORGE AND ADAM DUNNE
Robyn George, founder and president of Suburbs for Equality spoke at a BLM rally.
know better, it can be solved. Ignorance is when you are given the resources to know better, but choose not to believe them,’” George said. “Since then, I’ve decided to spend less time on ignorance and do all I can to solve miseducation. That’s why education is always the forefront of our campaigns.” To further her club’s education, George chose September’s Book Club pick to be Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” while the monthly discussion is about fair housing in Milwaukee and other urban communities. “The executive board and I always want the main priority of this organization to be progress,” said George. Now, as a student at UW-Madison and the Legislative Affairs Chair of ASM, George hopes to aid in progress beyond the UW community and throughout the Big Ten. “As a native student, one thing I really appreciate here is land recognition,” George said. “I’d like to use our presence in the Association of Big Ten Students Legislative Affairs Council to promote land recognition to other schools in the Big Ten.” Furthermore, George hopes to work with the vote coordinator of ASM to assist in making sure all students’ votes are safe and secure this election; she would also like to form strong bonds between ASM and the local and state governments here in Madison.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be