To the editor
Clean water is essential for our lives – for cooking and drinking, farming, manufacturing, fishing, boating, tourism and so much more. We have the right to use our rivers and lakes for all these purposes through something called the Public Trust Doctrine. But here’s the catch – we do not yet have certainty that our water will be clean. Our right to clean water is not yet protected in Wisconsin.
How do we as residents of Wisconsin ensure clean water for ourselves now, and for our grandchildren’s grandchildren? On April 6, 2021, vote YES to the referendum question “Should the State of Wisconsin establish a right to clean water to protect human health, the environment, and the diverse cultural and natural heritage of Wisconsin?”
Marquette County has been my home for nearly 30 years. I highly appreciate our well water in Westfield, and our access to creeks, rivers and lakes for boating and fishing. Born in Green Bay though, I remember when I was a child and teen in the 1960s and 70s how filthy the bay and the Fox River were. Dead fish, stinking shorelines, unswimmable beaches, floating waste and debris. I also remember the clean-up efforts that followed for decades.
In the early 1990s when my father died, my siblings and I swam in the Fox River together, retelling his stories of how he swam there as a child in the 1920s. I remember feeling so thankful for the many people who had the foresight and dedication to ensure Wisconsin cleaned up the Fox and the Bay, which continues to this day. But the ongoing effort for Wisconsin-wide clean water takes lengthy court cases and laws that can be overturned – essentially tons of additional time and money.
This is why we need this referendum vote. Please vote YES on April 6 for your right to clean water.
Sincerely,
Sue Allen, Westfield.
