Continuing Obligations to Protect Public Health and the Environment

In order to protect public health, DNR will often place a “continuing obligation” on property where there is some environmental contamination. Continuing obligations are legal requirements that apply to a property even after the ownership changes.

Owners of property with continuing obligations must:

1. Perform appropriate soil sampling, followed by proper treatment or disposal of the soil, if any contaminated soil is excavated.
2. Obtain DNR approval before constructing or reconstructing a water supply well so that the well will provide clean water. Well drillers may assist property owners in obtaining this approval - (GIS Registry Site Well Approval Application Form 3300-254).
3. Comply with any additional property-specific obligations established by the state.

For more information, please see read Continuing Obligations for Environmental Protection (RR-819) [PDF 67KB].

• Continuing obligations after an approved cleanup
• Continuing obligations during a cleanup
• Finding continuing obligations at Wisconsin properties

Continuing obligations after an approved cleanup

Residual contamination & monitoring wells

Most continuing obligations originate in the state’s approval of a cleanup that leaves some residual contamination. The state may approve this type of cleanup as long as the contamination is not spreading and human health is protected. This approach reduces the costs of treating or disposing of thousands of tons of contaminated soil. Please see our Residual Contamination page to learn more about this type of continuing obligation.

Sometimes a continuing obligation arises when a person completing a cleanup is not able to locate and properly abandon a groundwater monitoring well, such as after a snow plow destroys the above-ground portion of the well. This situation provides an easy trip for pollutants at the surface to travel to the groundwater. These property owners must properly abandon the wells in accordance with Chapter NR 141.25, Wis. Admin. Code, as soon they can be found.

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Continuing obligations during a cleanup

Continuing obligations when cleanup is underway

The state may impose a continuing obligation before a cleanup is completed when the cleanup is expected to take a long time. For example, a person responsible for an unlicensed landfill may be required to construct and maintain an “engineered cap” over the landfill while continuing to monitor the groundwater quality and methane emissions. The obligation to maintain the cap is established in the state’s approval of the cleanup plan, called a remedial action plan. Like other continuing obligations, this requirement also applies to new property owners.

Continuing obligations for local governments

Local governments in Wisconsin may “involuntarily” acquire contaminated property without incurring responsibility for environmental cleanup if they comply with certain legal conditions. Please see the Local Governments and Contaminated Property page to learn more about this statutory liability exemption. In this situation, a local government may have continuing obligations to protect public health and the environment even though not required to conduct a cleanup. If a community requests DNR’s input about its plans for use of the property and DNR directs a public health control, a continuing obligation may be established in a general liability clarification letter. For example, using a partially contaminated property as a park may require covering the contaminated area with clean soil and vegetation in order to maintain the liability exemption.

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Finding continuing obligations at Wisconsin properties

DNR’s GIS Registry is a map-based system to find information about properties with continuing obligations. This is intended to help property owners, purchasers, lenders, local government officials and others. The GIS Registry includes property maps, contaminant data and the state’s closure letter. The state’s closure letter states that no additional environmental cleanup is needed in the specified area, closes the state’s active file and includes information about requirements for managing the residual contamination. The GIS Registry is one layer in the RR Sites Map, which is part of the Contaminated Lands Environmental Action Network (CLEAN). CLEAN also contains the Bureau for Remediation and Redevelopment Tracking System (BRRTS) on the Web, which is DNR’s most comprehensive database for environmental contamination incidents.

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For more information about this page, contact:

Laurie Egre
608.267.7560