DNR Preparing To Support Efforts To Address PFAS Contamination

Today, Gov. Evers signed Assembly Bill 131, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 201, which, among many items, creates new grant programs to help Wisconsin’s communities address PFAS contamination, especially in drinking water.

Through the new PFAS community grant program, additional funding will be available to municipalities for eligible projects that include the sampling of drinking water at schools and daycares that use their own well and sampling of high-capacity irrigation wells, biosolids, sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate for PFAS. The law also creates a new PFAS grant program to assist airports and owners of certain industrial properties contaminated by PFAS.

Act 201 also expands the Well Compensation Grant Program, which provides grants to landowners or lessees with a contaminated private well, owners or operators of noncommunity water supplies, and certain schools and daycares to help with costs for treating drinking water from wells contaminated with PFAS or finding a safer water source. With higher income limits and additional funding, more households and businesses with contaminated private wells will be eligible for funding assistance.

Gov. Evers also signed Assembly Bill 130, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 200, which funds these new and expanded grant programs. Together, these bills are a critical step toward ensuring that Wisconsinites have access to safer water and to reduce exposure to PFAS through the environment.

In addition to the creation of these programs, Act 201 also includes narrow exemptions to the state’s environmental contamination cleanup law, known as the Spills Law, for certain releases of PFAS to the environment. The new exemptions to the Spills Law do not apply to owners and operators of industrial or manufacturing facilities that used PFAS in their industrial or manufacturing operations or processes. This Act also codifies into law the DNR’s policy of not pursuing farmers for cleanup of PFAS contamination resulting from permitted landspreading for agricultural purposes. The Act will also result in the DNR issuing a new general permit that includes conditions for monitoring PFAS in wastewater.

The DNR welcomes your feedback and questions related to these Acts. Please complete this online form to submit questions or provide input for the DNR to consider regarding the following:

1. New or expanded grant programs
2. Spills Law responsibilities and exemptions
3. General questions or feedback about PFAS

Interest in these programs is high, so staff may not respond to all feedback but will review and consider your input as the grant programs are developed. You can also subscribe to receive email updates about additional opportunities to provide input and progress of implementation.

Because the law creates new grant programs, it will take time for the DNR to set up and hire staff to administer them. Initially, the DNR will prioritize grants for sampling of private wells, schools, childcare facilities and biosolids, which are expected to be available starting in the summer or fall of 2026.

The DNR expects the expanded Well Compensation Grant Program to be launched in fall or winter of 2026. While the DNR is working towards implementation of these programs, existing programs are available to provide more immediate assistance. Municipalities are eligible to apply for funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for projects to address PFAS in drinking water and wastewater.

Information About PFAS

PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals used for decades in numerous products, including non-stick cookware, fast food wrappers, stain-resistant sprays and certain types of firefighting foam. They do not break down in the environment and have been discovered at concentrations of concern in groundwater, surface water and drinking water. These chemicals are known to accumulate in the human body, posing several risks to human health including certain cancers, liver damage and decreased fertility.