Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kits

The intentional contamination of water systems with biological, chemical, or radiological agents is a concern for water system operators and their communities.

An interagency work group was recently established in Wisconsin in order to address issues involved with the sampling and laboratory analysis portion of a response to intentional contamination of a drinking water system. This work group brought together state, local, and water utility representatives. As a result, a Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kit was developed that includes bottles, sampling instructions, basic personal protective equipment, and a test request/chain of custody form. The kit contains all the sample bottles that would be needed to analyze for contaminants of concern, as identified by the U.S. EPA.

The Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kits are placed at municipal drinking water utilities in the county seat, municipal drinking water utilities serving over 3300 people, regional public health offices, Wisconsin Emergency Management regional offices, DNR regional offices, tribal offices, the Wisconsin 54th Civil Support Team, and Wisconsin Rural Water Association locations. It is the expectation of the workgroup and those storing a kit that the kits would be available to all drinking water systems in the state if an emergency arises.

Although the Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kits were designed for use during an emergency at drinking water utilities, they could also potentially be used for sampling in other emergency water contamination events. The Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kits should be used after consultation with the DNR and other appropriate state and local agencies (local law enforcement, local health department, Department of Health and Family Services, Wisconsin Emergency Management, Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene).

Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kit Information

• Description of the Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kit

• Map of Locations of the Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kits

• Drinking Water Contamination Emergency Response Guide Flowchart

• Instructions for Filling Sample Bottles of the Wisconsin Emergency Response Drinking Water Collection Kit

This information is also available on the Wisconsin Health Alert Network (HAN).

If you have any questions about the kit location contact information, emergency sampling and analysis process, please contact Gabrielle Petersen at 608-266-8470 (gabrielle.petersen@wisconsin.gov), David Degenhardt at (608) 224-6270 (davidd@mail.slh.wisc.edu) or Al Spallato at (608) 224-6273 (spallato@mail.slh.wisc.edu).