To fight feedlot runoff, WI DNR has delivered zero bottled water as promised

Here's a shocking update to a post I put up Wednesday about ongoing manure overflows and the resulting contamination of surface and groundwaters near animal feeding operations, many in business under permits issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

A manure discharge in Kewaunee County

Remember the program the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources rolled out two months ago to deliver bottled water especially in Kewaunee County because manure leaking from big animal feeding operations running with DNR permits was contaminating nearby wells?

In low-key rollout, DNR begins giving water to those with tainted wells

Low-key? How about off-key? Tone-deaf? Bone-dry?

Earlier Wednesday I emailed DNR spokesman James Dick and asked how much of that water had been distributed, because I'd been hearing that people in rural Wisconsin were describing the program as "total bulls**t."

WI DNR spokesman Dick's answer:

As of yesterday, no one has applied for bottled water as required under the NR 738 criteria.

In other words, the potential applicants have only themselves to blame.

Two months. Not a drop of water delivered.

I have been hearing that the directions at the DNR's sign-on site are confusing for some elderly residents, that the eligibility requirements can be hard to grasp or meet, that not everyone has a computer with which to log on, etc.

Wisconsin residents and taxpayers are supposed to get bottled water because the DNR and its permittees can't stop the flow of brown water.

The DNR should get into the field and fix this.

Yesterday.