Residents want Portage County farm to conduct better groundwater monitoring

A group of residents want a judge to require a Portage County farm to conduct more protective groundwater monitoring, saying a settlement reached between the farm and state regulators weakened oversight.

Last week, the state held a contested case hearing on a permit issued to Gordondale Farms in Portage County. The concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, has around 2,200 dairy cows and calves. The dairy consists of three farms that produce more than 12.5 million gallons of manure and wastewater each year.

Last year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a modified permit to Gordondale after a lengthy battle over whether the farm should conduct groundwater monitoring. Nelsonville residents who live near the CAFO have sought monitoring due to struggles with nitrate contamination of their wells.

In June of last year, the environmental law center Midwest Environmental Advocates sought review of the permit on behalf of residents. Adam Voskuil, a staff attorney with the center, said the deal weakened groundwater monitoring requirements first proposed by the agency.

“The department and Gordondale farms met behind closed doors and came to ultimately settle on new terms to the permit outside of any public scrutiny and in a way that we saw (as) pretty problematic,” Voskuil said.

Voskuil said the deal reduced the frequency of groundwater sampling from monthly to quarterly. He said a field chosen for monitoring also appeared “cherry-picked” to obscure the effects of manure spreading on groundwater. 

MEA sued the DNR and Gordondale over the issue last year, calling the settlement an illegal deal. The case is on hold pending the outcome of the contested case hearing.

A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

In a statement, Kyle Gordon, president of Gordondale Farms, argued the evidence presented at the contested case hearing shows that groundwater monitoring conditions in its permit are “reasonable and science-based.”

“The Petitioners’ opposition to this sensible approach to groundwater monitoring continues to subject our family business — and our livelihood — to considerable regulatory uncertainty,” Gordon said. “For years, we’ve heard calls from local opponents of our farm to follow the science. Working with DNR, we are proposing to do just that. Gordondale Farms looks forward to continuing to partner with our community to protect water quality.”

Voskuil said they worked with hydrogeology experts to examine surface contamination and groundwater flows. He contended that Gordondale Farms is the only CAFO spreading most of its waste on fields that are essentially upstream from the village of Nelsonville.

In 2023, Portage County sampled 62 of 77 wells in the village, finding one third exceeded the drinking water standard for nitrates of 10 milligrams per liter. That’s more than three times the state average.

Katy Bailey, who is represented by MEA, lived in Nelsonville with her family. They eventually moved to Wisconsin Rapids after struggling for years with nitrate contamination. Tests found nitrate levels in their well were more than double the health standard.

After discovering high nitrate levels, the family installed a reverse osmosis system to treat their water. But Bailey said the system failed.

“We’re not asking for anything radical,” Bailey said. “We’re really just asking that people can drink the water that’s coming out of their tap.”

Bailey said she, her husband and her son still suffer from thyroid issues.

Nitrate contamination has been linked to blue-baby syndrome, thyroid disease and colon cancer. Around 90 percent of nitrate in groundwater can be traced back to agriculture.

The case is part of a series of challenges to Gordondale’s permit, which was first issued in 2020 without any groundwater monitoring on fields that receive manure. That caused residents to petition for a contested case hearing on the decision.

The DNR, Gordondale, residents and environmental groups ultimately reached a settlement to resolve the matter pending a ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on another case challenging the agency’s authority to require groundwater monitoring under permits. In 2021, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the DNR had such authority over large farms to protect water quality.

Since the ruling, the DNR said the agency has required additional groundwater monitoring for seven CAFOs. Around 20 large livestock farms monitor groundwater under their permits.

Voskuil said they want a judge to require the farm to select another field for monitoring, as well as conduct more frequent groundwater sampling. A decision in the case is expected sometime this winter.