Health Department News Release
Dr. Kathryn Vedder, Director City-County Building, Room 507
210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(Phone) 608 266-4821
(TDD) 608 267 2604
 (FAX) 608 266 4858

Madison's Environmental Health:  A New Report Card

Date: November 4, 2003
Contact: John Hausbeck at 294-5315

What are the challenges facing Madison’s environment? Where is the city making strides to improve environmental health? The latest report on the environment just released by the Department of Public Health highlights these and many other issues important to Madison residents.

The report card includes information from five main environmental areas. They are Air Quality, Water Quality, Food Protection, Animal Control, and Healthy Homes Healthy Communities. Each section includes some issues of concern, contributing factors that play a role in creating these issues of concern, the human health effects, the current local response and the future direction.

Some highlights of the report follow:

• Although ozone levels currently meet federal air quality standards, Madison has experienced 10 episodes of high ozone over the last five years.
  

• Groundwater supplying Madison’s drinking water meets all federal water quality requirements.
  

• Since 1990, cases of Campylobacter and Salmonella have decreased and are nearing target levels.
  

• Animal control officers follow up on more than 400 bite cases each year.
  

• More than a quarter of Madison’s homes were built before 1950 and are expected to contain hazards due to lead-based paint.
  

• Only 17% of Madison residents report testing their home for radon gas.
  

• Nearly 60% of Madison households use neither insecticides in their homes nor herbicides on their lawns.
  

• The amount of solid waste generated by Madison residents has increased 14% since 1996.
  

• The amount of hazardous waste collected by Clean Sweep has nearly tripled since 1993.

"The overall health of the city is integral to our quality of life and I'm pleased to see that the overall report on Madison's health is positive," said Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. But he added, "However I am concerned about the increasing number of high ozone days. This underscores the importance of the investments we are making in transit, traffic management and better land use."

Because the leading causes of air pollution are from cars and trucks and because sprawling land use patterns contribute to more traffic, the mayor has included several initiatives related to transportation in his budget:  

•  Expansion of Madison Metro bus service with a modest fair increase to pay for the expansion.
  
• A new "transportation demand management" (TDM) position to be paid for by lighted advertising in parking ramps. TDM works to encourage commuters to use transit, bikes, car pools and other alternatives to single occupancy car travel.

• Continued work on the city's Smart Growth comprehensive land use plan.

"This report card is an important service the Department of Public Health provides to the residents of Madison," said Dr. Kathryn Vedder, Director Madison Dept. Public Health. "The environment has a big impact on overall public health and this helps remind us of where we are making progress and where we have room for improvement."

The Environmental Health Report Card is produced every two years by the Madison Department of Public Health. Copies of the 2002 report are now available on line at 2002 Environmental Health Report Card or from the Madison Department of Public Health. For more information contact John Hausbeck at 608-294-5315.