Sampling will take place this fall to determine how old the water is within the Rock County Rural Water system.
System director Ryan Holtz stated May 2 to county commissioners he received a $50,000 grant from the state Department of Health.
The grant will pay for the collecting of water samples and testing at a Canadian company.
“They can actually age the water to tell how old it is so we would have a good idea if it is man-made fertilizers,” he said. “It would give us a good idea where our contaminants are coming from.”
Sampling will focus on the west edge of the system’s drinking water supply management area, where high nitrate issues persist on the west side of the Rock River.
“We’ve done a lot of implementation of grasses and cover crops and all these different things,” Holtz said.
“There is one question we’ve always come down to: ‘Where do they come from? Where are the nitrates at? Are they at 3 feet, 10 feet deep?’”
Water samples will be collected at 5-foot intervals down to 30 feet in depth.
“We will be able to tell the depth we find the nitrates and will be able to age the water as well — to find out if it came this year, last year or 20 years ago,” Holtz said.
Knowing the water’s age will pinpoint what cropping practices, if any, should be implemented and what restrictions, such as manure application, should be in place to keep water quality at drinkable levels.
Holtz said he will reapply for the same grant to resample next spring and compare the nitrate levels.
“We can hopefully pinpoint some of these things and clean up what we have and care for what we have,” he said.