Reporting on contamination of well water substantially incorrect
By Charley Preusser
Widespread reporting on the extent of well water contamination in southwestern Wisconsin that appeared recently appears to be substantially incorrect.
The initial source of that reporting seems to be a story by reporter Lee Bergquist that was published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s JS Online, midday on Thursday, Aug. 1 and updated later the same afternoon. (An abbreviated version of this article appeared in the Aug. 21 issue of the Courier Press.)
“As worries grow over contamination of rural drinking water, a new study of private wells in southwestern Wisconsin found the overwhelming majority were contaminated with fecal matter,” Bergquist wrote. “Results from the independent study released on Thursday showed that 32 of 35 wells—or 91 percent—contained fecal matter from humans or livestock.”
However, Bergquist fails to report that the 35 wells referenced were selected from a sample of wells previously identified in an earlier round of the study’s testing as contaminated. This fact is made abundantly clear in the study’s official press release titled ‘SWIGG Study Update-Identifying Sources of Fecal Contamination in Private Wells…’
“The Southwest Wisconsin Groundwater and Geology Study of Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette Counties has entered its second phase: identifying fecal sources of contamination in homeowners’ private wells,” the official press release states in the lead paragraph. “Samples were collected in mid-April 2019 from 35 private wells. Wells were randomly selected from those previously found during the study to be contaminated with coliform bacteria or high nitrate (above the drinking water standard of 10 ppm).”
It isn’t until halfway through the Journal Sentinel story that Bergquist even references the previous testing–through which the 35 wells tested in this story were actually identified as contaminated.
“In that first round (of well testing), 42 percent of 301 wells had evidence of total coliform or nitrate that exceeded the state’s health standard,” Bergquist wrote. “In a second round of 539 wells, 27 percent turned up total coliform or nitrate above the state standard.”
Combining the results of both rounds of initial testing, it appears approximately 272 of the 840 wells tested were identified as contaminated. That’s about 32.4 percent—meaning a little less than one third of the wells tested were identified as contaminated. It also means that more than two-thirds of the wells tested in the initial rounds of the study did not show substantial contamination.
So with the stage set by Bergquist’s omission of the fact that the 35 wells were a random sample from wells previously found to be contaminated, Associated Press picks up the story from JS-Online.
AP credits information in the story to the Milwaukee Journal and JS Online. However, they offer a rewrite of Bergquist’s story in their copyrighted version of it.
“The majority of private wells in southwestern Wisconsin are substantially polluted with fecal matter as concerns intensify over pollution of rural drinking water, according to a new study,” AP writes.
“Results from the independent study released Aug. 1 indicated that 32 of 35 wells—or 91 percent—contained fecal matter from humans or livestock, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported,” AP writes.
Like the Bergquist story in the Journal Sentinel, AP never mentions the 35 wells were randomly selected from wells already identified as contaminated in previous testing. In fact, the AP story never mentions the results of the 840 wells previously tested until the last sentence of their story.
On Monday, Aug. 5, the Wisconsin State Journal makes the AP story its ‘Top Story’ and attaches this headline:
‘Southwestern Wisconsin Study: Private wells in rural southwest Wisconsin are 91% polluted.’
On Aug. 4, the San Diego Union Tribune writes the following headline above the AP story:
‘Fecal matter found in most private wells tested in SW Wis.’
Then, it’s the radio stations turn. On Monday, Aug. 5, Mauston-based WRJC posted the following online:
‘91% Of SW Wisconsin Private Wells Polluted With Fecal Matter’
“A study by the U.S. Agricultural Research Service finds 91 percent of private wells in southwestern Wisconsin polluted with fecal matter. Follow-up testing is scheduled for next month. Thirty-two of 35 wells contained the contaminants from humans or livestock. Testers found some of the wells contained pathogens, which do cause illnesses like salmonella.”
On Aug. 6, WRN in Central Wisconsin posted this:
‘A warning about well water in southwestern Wisconsin.’
“A new report from the U.S. Agricultural Research Service shows 91-percent of the private wells tested in southwest Wisconsin are contaminated with fecal matter.
“Scientists say the results should be alarming. They say their testing raises serious questions.”
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 7:41 a.m. by Riley Herbert, news director.
In the Thursday, Aug. 8 edition of the La Crosse Tribune, a full week after the meeting in Lancaster, the page 4 headline read, ‘Pollution in southwest Wis. well–study: 91% contaminated with human or animal fecal matter.’ What followed was the same AP story citing the original Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/JS Online story.
“That’s inaccurate,” said Dr. Mark Borchardt of all the recent reporting that claimed 91 percent of the wells in rural southwestern Wisconsin were contaminated. Borchardt is a USDA microbiologist helping to lead the SWIGG Study.
To learn more about the latest phase of the SWIGG Study, the following link will connect the reader to ‘SWIGG Study results raise serious concerns,’ a story written by reporter Gillian Pomplun, who attended the meeting in Lancaster on Aug. 1: www.swnews4u.com/local/new-swigg-study-results-raise-serious-concerns.
Charley Preusser is the editor of the Crawford County Independent in Gays Mills, a sister publication of the Courier Press.
