Tests find contaminants from Rhythm & Booms fireworks - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

MADISON (WKOW) -- Madison's city Committee on Environment says tests show the Rhythm & Booms fireworks are harming the environment at Warner Park.

Plants were harvested for testing before and after Rhythm & Booms in 2012. A draft report says most of the plant species showed elevated concentrations of elements associated with fireworks 23 days following the event.

The report from James Bennett, a committee member who recently retired from the UW-Madison Institute of Environmental Studies, found maximum concentrations of aluminum, barium, cobalt, iron, magnesium, sulfur and contaminants from the fireworks at or near critical toxicity levels for plants.

Another draft report from city hydrogeologist Brynn Bemis shows a spike in contaminants in the Warner Park lagoon surface water after Rhythm & Booms.

The committee will consider the reports in March as it discusses what to do with the annual fireworks show.

The tests were paid for by the city of Madison and Wild Warner, a nonprofit working to protect the park.