Counties’ water is well worth protecting Crawford, Vernon and Richland counties THIS MAP shows the dis-tribution of water sampling locations across the three counties. More wells will be sampled as part of the DAWS initiative in the spring of 2021. Crawford, Richland and Vernon counties embarked upon a study of well water quality following release of the Southwest Wisconsin Groundwater and Geology (SWIGG) study results. Those results showed significant problems with drinking water quality in Grant, Iowa and Lafayette counties. The DAWS team, composed of Land Conservation Department staff, Public Health Staff, and private conservation group members from the three counties, met for over a year to prepare to launch the study. Securing the funding to conduct two rounds of testing took some time and effort. The first round was originally scheduled for April of 2020, but was postponed to late October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.