Environmental Health: The Environmental Health Capacity Program

Education on Radon Risks in Eau Claire County Homes with Identified Foundation Defects

Through this project, Eau Claire County will aid homes within the City of Eau Claire with foundation and weatherization defects. Local environmental health staff will provide homes with a free radon test kit and information about the risks of radon exposure.

This project will also include outreach to neighborhood associations, local churches, and landlords.

Project contact: Nicole Kragness (Nicole.Kragness@eauclairecounty.gov), Regulation and Licensing Division Manager
Project period: October 2023 to August 2025

Analyzing Indoor Air Home Radon Data with GIS to Focus Current and Future Radon Outreach and Testing Efforts in Rock County

Rock County will use data science and GIS to determine gaps in radon outreach and testing efforts. Up to 250 radon test kits will be offered at a reduced price to homes identified by this project as being in areas with radon data gaps. The analysis provided by this project will be used to assist in outreach efforts during this project and to lead future outreach to improve outcomes of radon prevention efforts.

Project contact: Rick Wietersen (Rick.Wietersen@co.rock.wi.us), Environmental Health Director
Project period: October 2023 to August 2025

Leveraging Partnerships to Increase Housing Safety and Weather-Related Emergency Resilience in Manufactured Home Communities

Pierce County Public Health (PCPH) will use this funding to work with municipal emergency medical services, fire departments, and police departments to engage in on-the-ground outreach to residents in manufactured home communities. This outreach will seek to establish trust with residents, provide education on safe housing with an emphasis on fire and weather emergencies, and provide potentially lifesaving supplies when indicated.

Project contact: Brian Long (Brian.Long@co.pierce.wi.us), Environmental Health Specialist
Project period: October 2023 to August 2025

Winter Weather Home Ready

Rusk County will use the mini grant funding to work to ensure that qualified participants have needed supplies and interventions in case of severe weather and/or a power outage in the winter. Their work will include distributing Weather Home Ready Kits to participants and conducting a social media and mail campaign to educate the community about how to be prepared to shelter in their home in the event of severe winter weather and/or a power outage, and how to know when/where to move to emergency shelters if needed.

Project Contact: Kaylee Bugbee (kbugbee@ruskcountywi.us), Health Officer
Project Period: October 2023 to August 2025

Eau Claire County Public Water Quality Viewer

Eau Claire will develop a geospatial water quality database to be utilized by public health staff, small public water system operators, and members of the public. The Viewer will increase surveillance capacity with a new way to visualize trends in water quality parameters at the three small municipal water systems of Fall Creek, Augusta, and Fairchild. This project will help to address hazards in small public water systems by improving data, creating opportunities for proactive intervention, and increasing access to and confidence in public drinking water.

Project Contact: Audrey Boerner (Audrey.Boerner@eauclairecounty.gov), Public Health Specialist
Project Period: October 2023 to August 2025 

Evaluating Groundwater Withdrawals and the Potential for Groundwater Depletion and Water Quality Impacts in Rock County

Rock County will use this funding to understand the potential impacts of groundwater depletion in the county. Increased rates of groundwater withdrawals in Rock County in combination with drought conditions may be having an adverse effect on drinking water quality. This project would utilize existing data and evaluation tools to provide a local analysis of water use that better serves the needs of Rock County compared to current "State level" perspectives.

Project Contact: Rick Wietersen (Rick.Wietersen@co.rock.wi.us), Environmental Health Director
Project Period: October 2023 to August 2025

Monroe County Climate Change Readiness within Flood-Prone Communities

Monroe County installed eight monitoring stations along the rivers and streams within the Upper Kickapoo and Little La Crosse watersheds. These stations provide Monroe County and National Weather Service staff with real-time water level data. The county also purchased a visual warning system to notify a local Amish community of flood conditions. This works helps improve emergency response time and reduce the health risks for rural communities during a flood.

Project Contact: Bob Micheel (Bob.Micheel@co.monroe.wi.us), Land Conservation Department Director
Project Period: September 2021 to August 2022

Monroe County Tri-Creek Flood Warning System Modernization Project

Monroe County replaced the outdated flood warning system at the Tri-Creek Dam with real-time water level and precipitation monitoring stations. These stations provide Monroe County and National Weather Service staff with real-time water level data. This works helps improve emergency response time and reduce the health risks for rural communities during a flood.

Project contact: Bob Micheel (Bob.Micheel@co.monroe.wi.us), Land Conservation Department Director
Project period: September 2021 to August 2022

Vernon County Nitrate Water Lab Development

After significant flooding in Vernon County in 2018, the health department identified a need for changes to be made to their nitrate testing capabilities. Previously, samples would be set to an out-of-county lab resulting in turnaround time of four to six weeks. To address this, Vernon County purchased and installed a nitrate testing machine. This work improves the county’s ability to identify and control safe drinking water in the community.

Project Contact: Amy Kleiber (Amy.Kleiber@vernoncounty.org), Health Officer
Project Period: September 2021 to August 2022

Vernon County Watershed Signage for Public Awareness

Vernon County installed 25 signs to indicate the entrance into and location of watersheds across the county. This signage supports improved situational awareness and understanding of watersheds within residents’ communities and is part of a larger, multi-pronged, public information campaign. Labeling the watersheds through signage emphasizes the importance of these features as community assets and begins to encourage public participation in watershed management efforts.

Project Contact: Monique Hassman (Monique.Hassman@vernoncounty.org), GIS Coordinator
Project Period: September 2021 to August 2022

Healthy Homes Work Group

In 2022, the EHC program formed the Healthy Homes Work Group - an internal committee of staff working on environmental health topics that impact quality of living in one's home. By increasing cross-program communications and coordination, the HHWG aims to engage in less burdensome and more meaningful healthy homes activities with both internal and external partners.

Courageous Connections through Relational Networking

The EHC program contracted with the University of Wisconsin Department of Extension to conduct two series of Courageous Connections through Relational Networking of trainings. This training is based on the premise that, only in relationship, can communities navigate the challenges at hand. The attendees engaged the skill of reflexivity - allowing themselves to become more self-aware, interact appropriately and generously, and “calibrate and grow” their sense of self through relationships. These trainings were provided to DHS' internal Healthy Housing Work Group in the October 2023 and members of the Health and Conservation Committee in February 2024. In total, 15 people attended these trainings.

Health and Conservation Summit

In November 2023, the Wisconsin Land and Water's Health and Conservation Committee held an in-person summit to protect and enhance drinking water. 

The EHC program participated on the Summit planning team. The agenda included case studies, expert panelists, and networking. In total, nearly 100 county and state staff participated in the event.

Data visualization workshops

In 2022, we contracted with Depict Data Studio to provide virtual data visualization workshops for local and tribal health and conservation staff. The workshops included data visualization best practices such as designing for your audience, choosing the right chart for the data, and using color and text hierarchies to make message stand out. More than 75 partners attended the trainings and the majority of which found them very useful. In fact, in a follow-up survey, 94% of participants reported that they gained knowledge in designing data visualizations and 98% of participants responded that they would be interested in future data visualization trainings.

Local Environmental Health Training Needs Assessment

In October 2022, the EHC program conducted an environmental health training needs assessment of local health department staff. The goals of this assessment were to:

• Identify how often local and tribal environmental health staff work on BEOH programmatic areas.
• Determine local environmental health staff’s confidence and ability to conduct work in these topic areas.
• Identify training, resource or support needs that the BEOH should prioritize and provide in coming years.

To accomplish this, we developed a quantitative assessment that asked how often staff work on specific environmental topics; staff knowledge, confidence and ability to conduct work in those areas; and resource and support needs related to each area. We received responses from more than 140 people in 55 counties and one Tribal Nation. We are currently working on summarizing these results in a final report.