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Safe Water for Wausau

Donations will go directly toward providing clean, safe water to those who need it most, as well as filtration systems if funds allow.

On February 9, 2022, the City of Wausau informed residents that all six municipal drinking water wells tested above state-proposed "safe" levels for PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, also known as “forever chemicals”). Additionally, emails from the Department of Public Works director revealed that testing dating back to 2019, not made public, showed similar results.
 
While the health impacts of these contaminants are still being studied and assessed, research suggests that they:
  • have adverse effects on reproductive health, such as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women;
  • can cause developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes;
  • increase the risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers;
  • reduce the ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections, including reduced vaccine response;
  • interfere with the body’s natural hormones;
  • can cause increased cholesterol levels and risk of obesity
 
All levels of government are failing to both provide the people of Wausau with transparency and information about their water, and develop plans to resolve this current crisis with those who are harmed the most. City and state officials have not provided the community with any mitigation, completely failing to provide safe, clean drinking water to Wausau residents. This is especially crucial for community members who are least able to afford expensive bottled water or filtration systems, including those who are disabled, unhoused, immunocompromised, or poor - including our children.
 
Many other communities in our state are also beginning to discover troubling levels of PFAS in their water systems. In 2021, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), the largest business and industry lobby in the state, sued the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to stop them from enforcing any PFAS clean-up. Now, they are trying to prevent them from carrying out any testing. We are facing a situation where the state is more concerned with protecting corporate profits than protecting the health and wellbeing of the people of Wisconsin.
 
Residents of Wausau have been facing the impacts of industrial contamination for decades. The 3M plant located on Wausau’s west side is the company’s top polluter in the nation. It's worth nothing that 3M, who has operated in Wausau since 1929, regularly makes a gross profit of $15-17 billion/year. When people get sick from drinking contaminated water or breathing in toxins, they cannot necessarily rely on our health care system to address their needs without going into debt or further poverty - especially in Wisconsin, one of only 12 states in the country that has still refused Medicaid expansion, even amidst a pandemic, denying Wisconsinites life-saving access to health care. Community members already face higher levels of poverty and inequality than the state of Wisconsin overall; more than half of Wausau’s households live at or below the ALICE threshold which measures the ability to meet basic survival needs. 
 
The Wisconsin Poor People's Campaign is working on an ongoing effort to arrange immediate water distribution to impacted individuals and families, and provide longer-term solutions. Additionally, we are calling on our elected officials and institutions like the DNR and the Department of Health Services to provide relief and listen to the voices of those who are most impacted. We know that our right to clean water cannot be fully achieved without ensuring that everyone in Wausau, and throughout our state, has access to healthcare, living wages, housing, and genuine democracy.
 
Donations will go directly toward providing clean, safe water to those who need it most, as well as filtration systems if funds allow.

Organisator

Britnie Remer
Organisator
Wausau, WI

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