The Water We Swim In

Lead paint, pipes, and progress in Milwaukee

How does lead contamination affect Great Lakes communities, especially marginalized ones? In this episode, Bonnie and guest host Dr. Deidre Peroff to explore the impact of lead contamination in Milwaukee.  Special thanks to our guests: Jamie Ferschinger, (former) Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers [https://sschc.org/] Alejandra Vigil, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers [https://sschc.org/] Dr. Molly Cousin, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers [https://sschc.org/] Professor Melissa Scanlan, UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences  [https://uwm.edu/freshwater/] Andrian Lee, (former) Wisconsin Sea Grant [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/], UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences [https://uwm.edu/freshwater/] Links: * Resources for Milwaukee residents: * Check if you home has a lead lateral [https://city.milwaukee.gov/water/WaterQuality/LeadandWater/Lead-Service-Line-Records] * Lead-Safe Milwaukee [https://city.milwaukee.gov/LeadSafeMKE] * Milwaukee segregation map [https://www.wuwm.com/regional/2013-11-27/ranking-milwaukee-still-countrys-most-segregated-metro-area] * Coalition on Lead Emergency [https://coalitiononleademergency.org/] * Badgers & Lead mining [https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS408] * Spatialized Intersectionality: Gendered and Racialized Residential Segregation and the Milwaukee Lead Crisis [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353160636_Spatialized_Intersectionality_Gendered_and_Racialized_Residential_Segregation_and_the_Milwaukee_Lead_Crisis] by Erica Morell and Dalvery Blackwell * The intersectional effect of poverty, home ownership, and racial/ethnic composition on mean childhood blood lead levels in Milwaukee County neighborhoods [https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0234995] * Lead-Safe Wisconsin: Childhood Lead Poisoning Data and Data Analysis [https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/lead/data.htm] * Wisconsin's Black children 4 times more likely to be lead poisoned than white children in 2022 [https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/21/lead-poisoning-4-times-more-likely-for-black-kids-in-wisconsin/70139003007/] * Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: A Historic Investment in Water [https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-11/e-ow-bid-fact-sheet-final.508.pdf] * Sixteenth Street’s Lead Poisoning Prevention work  [https://sschc.org/community-care/environmental-health-community-wellness/environmental-health/lead-poisoning-prevention/]

4. Public Trust: David and Goliath

For the final episode of Public Trust, we head to the communities of Peshtigo and Marinette in northeast Wisconsin, where we meet local residents who have been engaged in a yearslong battle with a multinational company that polluted their drinking water with PFAS. We learn how community members have come together to fight for clean water and why they are committed for the long haul.  Transcript available here [https://midwestadvocates.org/podcast]. Learn more: Midwest Environmental Advocates [https://midwestadvocates.org/] Wisconsin Sea Grant [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/]

3. Public Trust: Testing the Waters

Are PFAS in maple sap, wild rice, fish and other harvestable goods important to the Anishinaabe way of life? These are some of the questions the Voigt Intertribal Task Force [https://glifwc.org/About/vitf.html] asked Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s emerging contaminants scientist, after PFAS were found in wolves. In this episode, Public Trust producer Bonnie tells Richelle about the beginnings of a tribally-driven research project testing the waters of the ceded territories [https://data.glifwc.org/ceded/] of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan for PFAS. Learn more: Midwest Environmental Advocates [https://midwestadvocates.org/] Wisconsin Sea Grant [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/] GLIFWC - Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission [https://glifwc.org/] More about PFAS [https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/PFAS]

2. Public Trust: Fighting Fires

Firefighting foams made from PFAS have been used at airports for decades, contaminating groundwater throughout the country. In this episode of Public Trust, we return to French Island, a community near La Crosse in Western Wisconsin, to learn more about how local drinking water became contaminated with PFAS. Listen to episode 1 of Public Trust here. [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/audio/the-water-we-swim-in/1-public-trust-tapped-out/] View the transcript [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/audio/the-water-we-swim-in/] Midwest Environmental Advocates [https://midwestadvocates.org/] Wisconsin Sea Grant [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/] More about PFAS [https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/PFAS] Lee Donahue’s testimony audio clip courtesy of Wisconsin Eye [https://wiseye.org/]

1. Public Trust: Tapped Out

Public Trust is a new podcast miniseries by Midwest Environmental Advocates [https://midwestadvocates.org/] and Wisconsin Sea Grant [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/]. The series explores Wisconsin's response to PFAS contamination. Host Richelle Wilson visits communities impacted by these toxic "forever chemicals" to understand how local residents have been affected and what they're doing to secure their rights to clean water. In this episode, we travel to the small town of Campbell on French Island, to find out. French Island resident and local official Lee Donahue gives us a tour of the neighborhood and tells the story of how local drinking water was contaminated with "forever chemicals" - PFAS. Along the way, we meet local residents who reveal how the crisis has changed their lives and what they're doing to secure their rights to clean water. Read the transcript here [https://midwestadvocates.org/podcast/tapped-out]. Learn more: Midwest Environmental Advocates [https://midwestadvocates.org/] Wisconsin Sea Grant [https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/] More about PFAS [https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/PFAS] News clips courtesy of WXOW News 19 [https://www.wxow.com/]