In 2017, the County Board authorized the Board Chair to establish a Groundwater Nitrate Work Group.  The group, which acts in an advisory capacity, is composed of the Chair of the Board of Health, the Chair of the Land Conservation Committee, the Chair of Planning & Development Committee, two County Board members at large, Staff members from Public Health, Land Conservation, Planning & Development, UW Extension, a representative from the Agricultural Service Sector and one Farmer currently working with a research project overseen by UW-Discovery Farms.   Staff from Public Health, Land Conservation, Planning and Development, and UW Extension provide support to assist in developing recommendations for decreasing nitrates or reducing the rate of nitrate increase in the groundwater of Rock County.  The Work Group will make recommendations to the County Board from the group's research findings through the development of set of groundwater nitrate recommendations in a published management plan in the coming years. 

The following are the preliminary goals for a Nitrate Work Group:

• Include groundwater protection in smart growth comprehensive plans.
• Encourage wise land-use decisions that will minimize impacts to groundwater.
• Utilize technology such as groundwater flow models for groundwater planning purposes.
• Protect municipal and/or private water supplies from contamination by adopting wellhead protection ordinances and developing source water protection plans.
• Encourage farmers to adopt nutrient management plans and less nutrient intensive cropping systems, particularly in areas that show impacts from fertilizers.
• Develop water conservation strategies and to minimize the impacts of expected increases in water use from population growth.
• Educate community members about the local groundwater resource, its use, current and potential problems, as well as solutions.
• Establish, maintain, and evaluate a data collection, monitoring and analysis program.
• Coordination and cooperation between state agencies, local government, non-profit organizations, and citizens.
• Fill data gaps in well testing programs.
• Develop small scale field project(s) in Rock County to test BMP implementation and impacts on groundwater quality.  

Meetings: Varies

Click here for Agendas, Agenda Packets, and Minutes for 2022 and Forward