On Saturday, March 11, 2023, in partnership with Kewaunee Cares, your Door County Environmental Council co-sponsored the program “The health risks associated with groundwater-borne pathogens in private wells” featuring Tucker Burch, Ph.D. Dr. Burch, a Research Engineer with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Marshfield, WI, has worked on risk assessment for drinking water in the upper Midwest and on studies related to antibiotic resistance in the environment.

Burch has co-authored several field studies related to private well contamination in Kewaunee County, WI, the purposes of which were to determine whether gastrointestinal pathogens and antibiotic-resistance genes were present in areas influenced by residential septic systems and land-applied dairy manure in the Silurian dolomite aquifer found in northeast Wisconsin. During his presentation Burch discussed the results of these investigations, focusing primarily on waterborne infectious diseases in rural areas affected by agricultural activity, especially the magnitude of health risks and the factors associated with the greatest risks.

If you were unable to attend, you can view the recording below.