Often forgotten in the debate is the question of how the existing widespread pollution by atrazine might affect other life on this planet. The groundwater enforcement standard does not take into consideration potential environmental impacts. They are strictly prohibited from polluting groundwater in excess of the enforcement standard beyond their property boundaries. When sites do pollute groundwater, clean-ups are frequently undertaken with the goal of bringing groundwater within PALS, or even to background levels. Special monitoring wells are frequently required around contamination sites to insure that contaminants don t exceed standards across property boundaries.
Agricultural contaminants are an exception to the way Wisconsin regulates groundwater pollution.
Regulations are not usually enforced on field-applied agricultural chemicals until they exceed enforcement standards at a drinking water well not at a property boundary like other pollution sources. However, drinking water wells make poor monitoring sites for groundwater contamination, since they are generally constructed to avoid contaminants. Using drinking water wells as points of standards application allows a large amount of groundwater to exceed enforcement standards between the well and the property boundary where the pollution originated. The PAL is virtually unused in the site-specific regulatory process for agricultural contaminants. Proposals to lift atrazine bans allow agriculture to follow less restrictive standards than other potential pollution sources.