Dear editor,

On March 14, Katie Rosenberg and Doug Diny met and participated in the League of Women Voters Mayoral Candidate Forum. Both candidates answered questions that were generated from the audience of 100 people.

There was one clear difference between the two candidates, which was their perspectives on maintaining safe water for the people of Wausau. Mayor Rosenberg maintained her commitment to continue her work with state and federal agencies in an effort to stay in the forefront of technologies and strategies to keep the water safe for residents and to find funding for the filtering processes. She will continue work, not only for Wausau, but also as an advocate for other small communities in the state who are facing these problems. In addition, she spoke of her efforts to remove the lead pipes from the city’s water supplies within the next five years. She has a deep resolution to have safe water for all people who live in the city of Wausau. In addition, Mayor Rosenberg has a vision and a strong plan to achieve this goal.

Mr. Diny’s response was quite different. His focus was only on the reduction of water bills in the city. He failed to address any plan to eliminate lead from the city’s water supplies to residents. His plan to reduce water bills included 1) drilling a new well, and 2) the reduction of filtering for PFAS in the city’s water supply. All of the city’s wells currently contain PFAS at unsafe levels. Indications are, that the aquifer under the city is fully contaminated and drilling a new well would be a waste of time and money for the city.

His second idea is even more disturbing. PFAS is known as a forever chemical. Once in the body, it never leaves but only accumulates as more PFAS is ingested through food or water sources. PFAS is known to cause illness and even death. Reducing the current levels of PFAS filtration puts all Wausau residents at risk. The EPA has recommended that a safe PFAS level is at 4 parts per billion. It’s the highest recommendation level that the EPA has ever issued, indicating the serious health hazard of this chemical is thought to cause. To put this in perspective, this level of filtration would equate to one drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Mr. Diny’s focus on the reduction of water bills at the cost of the health and well being of the residents of Wausau is disturbing. He is gambling with the health of people in the community to minimally reduce the water bill expense. This is a gamble that is not worth the risk.

Tom Johansen, Wausau

Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.