DNR Seeks Public Input On Development Of
Programs Authorized By PFAS Laws
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is working to implement 2025 Wisconsin Acts 200 and 201, and welcomes your feedback and questions.
Act 201 creates new grant programs to help Wisconsin’s communities address PFAS contamination, especially in drinking water, and creates certain exemptions from specified responsibilities under Wisconsin’s Spills Law.
Through the new PFAS community grant program, additional funding will be available to municipalities for eligible projects. Eligible projects include sampling of drinking water at schools and daycares that are not served by a municipal water system and not already required to sample for PFAS 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.
Act 200 funds these new and expanded grant programs. Together, these Acts are a critical step toward ensuring that Wisconsinites have access to safer water and to reduce exposure to PFAS through the environment.
Please complete this 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
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.
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.
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