Assessing Levels and Potential Health Effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Groundwater Associated with Karst Areas in Northeast Wisconsin

Concern is emerging over the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in aquifers used as a source of drinking water. Land application of dairy waste is likely a major route of groundwater contamination, given hat manure contains not only endogenous sex hormones from cattle but also synthetic hormones injected into the animals to induce growth. The dolomite aquifer of northeast Wisconsin may be particularly vulnerable to EDC contamination from manure runoff, given the presence of carbonate bedrock areas, shallow soil depths, and karst features (sink holes and bedrock openings) that allow ready access of surface contaminants to groundwater. Thus, the objectives of this proposal are to: 1) To test for indicators of livestock and/or human fecal contamination (E. coli, fecal coliform, nitrates) in groundwater and springs near farmland in the northeast Wisconsin counties of Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac and Kewaunee; 2) To measure levels of EDCs (17 Data obtained from these studies will provide important information for the residents of Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac and Kewaunee Counties regarding the safety of their well water, and will provide insight into whether the risk for groundwater contamination changes seasonally, or varies with the proximity of farming operations or aquifer characteristics. This work will also compliment studies currently being conducted in other areas of Wisconsin by Hemming and colleagues (2007) regarding the potential human health threats posed by groundwater contaminated with manure-born EDCs from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).