MAUSTON — On June 22, the Juneau County Board of Supervisors voted to join a growing list of Wisconsin counties to approve adding a Clean Water Now referendum question to local ballots for the November 8, 2022 election. Juneau County joins Green, Outagamie and Adams Counties as the latest to join the Clean Water Now movement. 

The Clean Water Now advisory referendum gives Wisconsinites a direct opportunity to express their support for more action by state government and elected officials to protect drinking water and groundwater across Wisconsin. The question on the ballot will read: “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?” 

“We have several other counties working to add the Clean Water Now question to their November ballots,” said River Alliance of Wisconsin Water Advocates Organizer Johnson Bridgwater. “It is no accident that so many counties are coming forward to ask our state leaders to do more to ensure water is protected for drinking, fishing, recreation, and a strong economy.” 

Wisconsinites raised concerns about the urgency of protecting our water during the Speaker’s Water Quality Task Force hearings in 2019, but proposals from the task force fell short and the legislature has not taken meaningful or urgent action on the water quality protection bills that were proposed. In spring 2021 elections, voters in Marquette County (73%), Portage County (77%) and Wood County (76%) approved referendum questions. In spring 2022 elections, Eau Claire (79%) and La Crosse (86%) Counties approved the question. It’s clear that clean water is important to Wisconsinites, regardless of political party.