Water Quality & Conservation News

St. Croix County Land & Water Conservation Newsletter |November 2025

Getting to Know Your Drinking Water

Take Our 5 Minute Water Quality Survey

St. Croix County is conducting a brief survey to better understand how residents perceive their home's drinking water quality and what treatment or filtration methods they use.

Your feedback will help us learn how residents feel about the safety of their drinking water and what they believe poses risks to that safety. Information obtained will guide future outreach and education programs delivered by Community Development and Public Health Departments.

This voluntary, confidential survey takes just a few minutes to complete. Your input will make a real difference in guiding future efforts by St. Croix County to keep our water safe, reliable, and sustainable for everyone in our community.

Take the survey

An un-used well pipe cut-off below the soil surface and filled with bentonite.

Well Decommissioning Protects Groundwater

Help Stop Pollution Before it Starts

Every home and business needs access to clean, reliable water. When groundwater wells are replaced or abandoned, unused wells are often left behind, and these abandoned wells can become a source of pollution.

Unused or improperly filled wells pose a significant threat to groundwater quality. These wells provide an avenue for contaminated surface water to flow directly into groundwater without the natural purifying action that occurs when water infiltrates slowly through the soil. Unused wells should be properly decommissioned to prevent groundwater pollution.

St. Croix County Land and Water Conservation has cost-shared well abandonment for over 20 years. Residents using cost-share to abandon an unused well rely on licensed contractors to fill the well with bentonite slurry which effectively “seals” the well.

Since 2000, St. Croix County has cost-shared 201 well abandonments at a cost of $178,660 for an average cost share contract of $889. This practice will continue to be promoted using DATCP and County cost-share resources.

For More Information on Cost-Share Contact Land and Water Conservation at 715-531-1930

Annual Tree & Plant Sale

New Offerings and Bundle Sizes

St. Croix County’s popular annual tree sale offers a wide variety of different trees, shrubs, and native wildflowers.

Each year a selection of plants are ordered from nurseries and made available to landowners through an online pre-order process starting in early November and going until plants are sold out. Order early to ensure you get what you’d like to plant next spring. Plant order pickup is scheduled based on spring weather but is usually late April to early May.

New for 2026

Smaller bundles: Hardwood trees and shrubs will now be sold in bundles of 10 instead of 25, lowering cost and making it easier to plant a variety of species. Conifers remain in bundles of 25.
NEW! Larger hardwood options: Two larger 4–6 ft trees—American Elm (Dutch Elm–resistant) and Autumn Blaze Maple—perfect for new homes, subdivision lots, or anywhere a shade tree providing exceptional fall color is desired. Supplies Limited!
Mount Royal Plum: Now offering a self-fruitful Mount Royal Plum, which does not require a second plum variety for pollination.

Place Your Order Today!

Kinnickinnic Headwaters Groundwater Protection Plan

St. Croix County Land and Water Conservation obtained grant funding through the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) to develop a plan to protect groundwater quality - specifically to evaluate nitrogen best management practices (BMPs) that could be cost shared through USDA programs.

The Kinnickinnic Headwaters project area covers nearly 67,000 acres, primarily within the Towns of Warren, Hammond, Erin Prairie, and Baldwin. Springs in this area form the headwaters of the Kinnickinnic River, a Class 1 trout stream, and supply the aquifer that provides drinking water for the Villages of Roberts and Hammond.

Over the past 25 years, nitrate-nitrogen levels in municipal wells in this area have gradually increased but remain below the 10 ppm drinking water standard. However, more than 24% of private wells in the area already exceed this standard, reflecting the vulnerability of groundwater in this region.

Planning results indicate that implementing agricultural BMP’s such as: cover crops, nutrient management plans, and crop rotation could help prevent nitrate levels in municipal wells from exceeding the drinking standard and reduce the number of private wells with unsafe nitrate concentrations.

More Information

Stay Connected

Stay connected with the St. Croix County Land & Water Conservation Division for news, updates, and resources. Visit our website, follow us on social media, or reach out with any questions. If you know someone who would find this information helpful, please feel free to share it with them—together, we can make a positive impact on our community and environment! If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it directly, visit our Notify Me page to subscribe.