Welcome to Wiswaterguy! This is the blog of George Kraft, Professor of Water Resources with UW-Stevens Point and UW-Extension. This site is a venue for sharing ideas and news about Wisconsin’s waters, how we manage them, the challenges they have, and how we can improve them.
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WisWaterGuy 
Hello George, We have met thru Mary Duritsa Hemshrot over the years. I am one of the members of the Weeona Lake Trust on Severson Lake (Budsberg) and we are all very concerned about the quality of Portage County Lakes in the future. It is shocking to see the amount of ground water invasion that is going on now. Thanks for doing this study! We will follow your blog carefully. Cheers, Rhoda Brooks
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Thanks Rhoda! Yes, I know you and get to see you about once every year or two!
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Hello George, This WI Potato Growers brochure (http://wisconsinpotatoes.com/governmental-affairs/water/) is being circulated at county board meetings. I read it. I’m a layperson. My head spun as I contemplated the difficulty as a layperson to fact-check what seems to be propaganda. But I decided to give it a try: I read your blog retort about ‘trees using more water than crops’ (one of the points in the WI Potato Growers brochure). And although I was relieved to see your retort, my poor head spun again. It’s hard-going for a layperson.
What would help me most would be for someone like yourself, so familiar with the science, to make a copy of the WI Potato Growers brochure and then, next to each ‘fact’ in the brochure, write the simplest retort (in a different, noticeable font) that a layperson like myself and like most of the Central Sands community could understand. Point by disputed point. This amended brochure would be circulated simultaneously with the WI Potato Growers brochure. For instance, the amended brochure would strike-though wherever a ‘fact’ is really a ‘speculation’ and rename it what it is: speculation. The template is there — the potato growers have written it. It would be a lot like the college Blue Book exams I used to take and get back, where the professor crossed out my stupid stuff and put in smart stuff. You’re a professor — I’m sure you’re good at it! And finally, I have been learning something about traces of neonicotinoids ending up in the ground water in Adams County and would like to see that kind of addendum to the WI Potato Growers where they say, ‘From there, the pumped water infiltrates back into the same aquifer from which it was withdrawn.’ I’d like to see a little addendum that says ‘pumped water with added fertilizers, herbicide and pesticide residues …”
Thank you for this blog. Even though my head spins, it spins a little less. Best regards, Shelley Hamel, Marquette County WI
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Hi Shelley! Keep your eyes open; the WPVGA rep will be making a presaentation at your county conservation committee meeting in a week or two.
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