Concerns about the impacts of agriculture on surface and ground water will be discussed at a Wednesday evening forum at the L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire.
The 7 p.m. program will feature a pair of clean water activists and a UW-Extension educator. It is sponsored by the Sierra Club, Citizen Action and the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters.
Panelists will include Lynn Utesch, a Kewaunee County farmer and clean water activist; Dan Zerr, UW-Extension Natural Resources Educator for the lower Chippewa River basin; and Dick Lamers, a retired Tainter Lake resident and conservation activist.
Utesch is known statewide for his sustainable, environmentally friendly farming and his opposition to factory farms that pollute surface waters and acquifers. Kewaunee County is home to extensive pollution from Concentrated Agricultural Operations (CAFOs) that dump cow and pig manure into the environment.
Zerr will discuss the current status of area drinking water, rivers, lakes and streams and on-going threats to water quality. Lamers will talk about the anger and frustration of people living on lakes polluted by toxic blue-green algae. He is an organizer of the annual Red Cedar Conference which promotes sustainable agriculture and other conservation practices.