rivers report summer 2013

8/22/2019 Rivers Report Summer 2013

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Sweet Water and Root-Pike WatershedInitiative Network (WIN) are expandinga region-wide, two-year $260K campaigncalled Respect Our Waters, unded by WisconsinDepartment o Natural Resources (WI-DNR)grants written by Sweet Water and Root-Pike

WIN and with support rom more than 30municipal and private partners. Te eort israising public awareness o the harm caused bynonpoint source pollution and oers tips on ways

residents can help. Te education work is basedon the results o a recent survey which showedthat the public lacked an understanding o thepollution rom stormwater and their own potentialrole in reducing pollution carried by stormwaterdraining rom our streets, driveways, and yards.

Te 2013 Respect Our Waterscampaign isexpanding on last years eorts. Ater reviewingcompeting proposals rom area television stations,

WISN Channel 12 (an ABC aliate) wasselected as primary media sponsor this year.Te station will be providing a substantial boostin advertising coverage rom the 2012 televisioncampaign, oering almost a 3 to 1 ratio o

promotion value to cash investment. RespectOur Watersads will be running on Channel12 rom May 6 through September 29.

In addition, Sweet Water and Root-Pike WINwill be promoting the campaign at more than40 local events, including armers markets,National Night Out events, local estivals andsummer concerts. At our tables, area residentscan get ree Sparkles pins and pet poop bags,

learn simple tips on reducing stormwaterpollution impacts on our rivers and LakeMichigan, and register to win ree rainbarrels or a ree rain garden. Details aboutpast and uture community appearances areavailable at respectourwaters.orgat theCommunity Events tab.

Also new in 2013, our mascot Sparkles willbe appearing on 3 million Milwaukee JournaSentinel bags this summer and all. With asimple direct message on the bags, Sparkleshighlights the importance o public involvement

and directs readers to the Respect Our Waterswebsite. Te bags, themselves made rom partially

Coming inSeptember9th Annual Great LakesRestoration Conerence

to be held in Milwaukee

September 10 12.

Registration is open.

More inormation can

be ound at

conerencehealthylakes.org

RiversReportSUMMER 2013 | volUME 4 no. 3

The Respect Our WatersCampaign Growing in 2013JEFF MARTInKA , SWEET WATER

Wecme Gassa Kra ....... 2

Sweet Water Upate .............. 3

MiwaukeesMagifcet Waters ................ 4

J Guras Built on Water.... 5

Sweet Water Mii-Grats aFries te Parks ............... 6

Cserati Ag las ...... 7

Upcmig Eets ................... 8

Inside

this Issue

Learning for life

Respect Our Waters at

Fondy Food Market

Continued on bottom of page


2/8Page 2 SUMMER 201

An Exchange oTalents on theSweet Waters

Steering CouncilTInA KRoEnInG, SWEET WATER

MMSDsRegional GreenInrastructure PlanKAREn SAndS, MIlWAUKEE METRoPolITAn SEWERAGE dISTRIC

As Milwaukee Deputy Commissionero Public Works Preston Cole stepsdown as a Sweet Water Steering Councilmember, we are privileged to announcethe election o Milwaukee Commissionero the Department o Public WorksGhassan Korban, trading one valuableSteering Council member or another.

Preston Cole was a ounding member othe Sweet Water board, representing the

City o Milwaukee since the organizations incorporation. Mr.Cole is also the elected Chair o the seven-member WisconsinNatural Resources Board, rst appointed by Governor Doyleand recently reappointed by Governor Walker. His advice atSteering Council meetings will be greatly missed, but Prestonremains only a phone call away.

Ghassan Korban was elected to serve on the board at itsJune 18th bi-monthly meeting. Mr. Korban was appointedCommissioner o Public Works by Mayor om Barrett in2011 and conrmed by the Milwaukee Common Council.

He is responsible or a $500 million capital, operating andmaintenance budget and 2,500 employees.

Commissioner Korban has been with the Department oPublic Works or 25 years. Prior to being appointed asCommissioner, he was the Coordination Manager or theDepartment o Public Works where he was responsible oradministering Public Works contracts. Ghassan also servedas the liaison between the Department o Public Worksand the Department o City Development on developmentprojects to the Citys Business Improvement Districts.

Commissioner Korban earned a BS in Civil Engineeringand a MS degree in Construction Management rom

Marquette University. Mr. Korban is a board member othe Milwaukee Riverwalk District, the Advisory Committeeon ransportation Systems Planning and Programming orthe Milwaukee Urbanized Area, and the City o MilwaukeeCapitol Improvement Committee.

With Commissioner Korbans experience and expertise, welook orward to his counsel on our board as our new City oMilwaukee representative, helping to guide Sweet Waterseorts in the region.

On July 22, 2013, the Milwaukee Metropolitan SewerageDistrict (MMSD) Commission approved a ground-breakinRegional Green Inrastructure Plan or the 411-square-mileMMSD planning area. Te Plan recommends adding 740million gallons o green inrastructurestrategies like rainbarrels, green roos and porous pavementacross the region. Bycomparison, the MMSDs tunnel system is 521 million gallons.Te new Plan is one part o MMSDs strategy to reduce the risko basement backups and sewer overfows when it rains heavily.

MMSDs plan ramps up implementation o green inrastructure,providing widespread benets. Trough its successul pilot projects

MMSD knows that green inrastructure works at the beginnino storms, right where rain alls. By catching and holding rainit treats water as a resource, saving capacity in municipal andMMSD sewers and ltering polluted stormwater runo beoreit reaches area waterways.

Te Plan was prepared or a number o reasons. It providesguidance or implementing MMSDs 2035 Vision to capturethe rst 0.5 inch o rain that alls on impervious areas o theDistrict. It complements MMSDs Private Property Infow andInltration (PPI/I) Reduction and Integrated Regional StormwatManagement (IRSWM) programs. It will likely help meetpollutant load reductions required to achieve water quality

standards to be outlined in third-party otal Maximum DailyLoads (MDLs) later this year. And, it will help meet MMSDnew discharge permit requirement or green inrastructure.

Te 740 million gallons o new green inrastructurecapacity recommended in the Plan will be implementedover the course o more than 20 years. It will involve

widespread public and private installations o all sizes.

You can read the Plan on MMSDs green inrastructurewebsite here: http://www.h2ocapture.com/en/GI-Plan.aspxFor more inormation, please contact Karen Sandsat (414) 225-2123 or [email protected].

Youth rom Neu Lie and their arty rain barrels

Ghassan Korban


3/8SUMMER 2013 Page

Ihope you are having a good summer.Heres a sampling o current projectwork involving Sweet Water partners:

Announcing the 2013 Sweet wAter

Mini-grAnt rFPS

Based on initial undraising success,

Sweet Water plans to host a 2013

mini-grant round this all. Community

and civic groups should start planning

their mini-grant proposals now, with an expected grant

submission deadline o November 1, 2013. Well post on

Sweet Waters website and Facebook pages and send out

more details in our next WatershedWatch e-newsletters.

I you are not on that listing already, add yoursel by writing

[email protected]. o learn about several recent Sweet

Water mini-grants, check out the story by Joan Herrigesin this RiversReport.

MilwAukee totAl MAx iMuM DAily loAD (tMDl)

Project ADvAnceS

Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Districts MDL

consultants are condent the our Milwaukee area MDLs

will be completed and submitted by December. Sweet

Water continues work with MMSD in engaging MDL

stakeholders and our Sweet Water representatives serve

on the MDL Development eam.

Te next MDL stakeholder workshop is planned or

October at which time the allocated loads will be reviewedwith permit holders. Eighty to one hundred have attended

the ve prior sessions. Notes and slides rom all past MDL

stakeholder meetings are available atwww.mmsd.com.

Updated TMDL Schedule:

Water quality modeling completed:Late summer/all 2013

Allocated loads presented to stakeholders:October 2013

Final MDLs delivered to WDNR/US EPA:November/December 2013

MDL Implementation Plan development:January through September 2014

Tree additional stakeholder workshops are planned

or 2014. All inormation about upcoming stakeholder

workshops, as well as MDL e-updates, will be provided

via email. o be added to the e-list, send your email

address to [email protected].

MenoMonee wAterSheD-BASeD PerMit

PArtnerS Active thiS SuMMer

Te Menomonee River Watershed-Based Permit was approvedby the WDNR and US EPA in November 2012 and isthe rst true watershed-based stormwater permit in the

entire country. Te11 municipalities

joined by thepermit are now

working hard toorge newpartnerships. wosubcommitteesare underway, onechaired by JeNettesheim oMenomonee Falls is

working on eorts on illicit discharge detection and a second,chaired by im Tur o the City o Milwaukee, is working onselection o joint watershed projects. Te municipalities arebeing supported by Sweet Water partners Dennis Grzezinski(Midwest Environmental Advocates), Ezra Meyer (Clean

Wisconsin) and Cheryl Nenn (Milwaukee Riverkeeper).

SAve the DAte the 10th cleAn riverS

cleAn lAke conFerence - MAy 1St, 2014

Based on the strong attendee reviews, our Planning Committeevolunteers have chosen to return to the Harley-DavidsonMuseum next year, setting a date o Tursday, May 1, 2014.I you have great 2014 speaker or topic ideas, please send themto [email protected].

Summertime at Sweet WaterJEFF MARTInKA, SWEET WATER

Je Martinka

Ezra Meyer, Cheryl Nenn, and

Dennis Grzezinski

Some o the Menomonee River partners



People have long been attracted to the rivers and lakes thatcharacterize present-day Milwaukee. Troughout historyMilwaukees rivers have tremendously aected the people o thisarea. People have relied on these now-urban waterways or ood,travel, trade, industry, and recreation. But just as MilwaukeesMagnicent Waters have aected us, our actions and behavioraect the rivers we love and rely on.

In 1987, the Milwaukee Estuary was designated an Area oConcern (AOC) by the ederal government. Te waters o theMilwaukee Estuary are considered impaired as the result ohistorical modications like dredging and straightening, androm heavy pollutant loads. Te Milwaukee Estuary is one o

orty-three AOC-designated Great Lakes watersheds in theU.S. and Canada.

Areas o Concern are evaluated on ourteen characteristics calledBenecial Use Impairments. o reach the ultimate goal obecoming delisted, an AOC must reverse degradation oBenecial Use Impairments. Currently, the Milwaukee Estuary

AOC has eleven Benecial Use Impairments, but state agenciesand local partners are working on projects throughout the

watershed that improve sh and wildlie habitat, remove

contaminated sediments, and improve the aesthetics andrecreational opportunities on the rivers.

Get more involved in the watershed where you work, live,and recreate through these opportunities:

AttendBuiltonWaterLectureSeries. Discover therivers past and uture with a visual lecture series byMilwaukee historian John Gurda. Starting in September,these lectures exploring the history o our relationship withour waterways will take place throughout the region.

ParticipateinanExploreandRestoreExpedition.

Experience Milwaukees Magnicent Waters with eldtrips to AOC project sites with the Urban Ecology Center.

BecomeaCitizen-BasedAestheticsMonitoring

Program(CAMP)VolunteerorRiver/BeachAmbassador.Collect data that contributes to assessing the appearanceand enjoyment o the rivers and inorm others o the issuesand eorts that aect us and our rivers.

Grants have been written, unds secured, and projects areunderway the only thing missing is YOU! Get inormed, getinspired, and get involved with Explore and Restore: MilwaukeesMagnicent Waters. Register or events through Urban EcologyCenter at urbanecologycenter.org.

Explore and Restore Milwaukees Magnifcent WaterslESlEy ShERIdAn, URbAn EColoGy CEnTER

Ph

oto:UrbanEcologyCenter

Photo:UrbanEcologyCenter

Paddling the Milwaukee River

KK River Clean-up Team

recycled product, encourage newspaper readers to reuse thebags to pick up ater their pets.

In addition, Respect Our Watersads will be promoted onregional social media to supplement the other parts o thecampaign. WISN.com will be eaturing ads on its home pageand news sections and the campaign will also be promoted ona variety o partner websites and Facebook pages.

Te campaign is supported by unding rom a partnership omore than 30 municipalities rom Kenosha County to Ozaukeeand Washington Counties, matched by unds rom the WI-DNR.

Communities that joined in Sweet Waters portion o theunding this season include Brookeld, Brown Deer, Cudahy,Elm Grove, Fox Point, Germantown, Glendale, Greeneld,Menomonee Falls, Mequon, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County,Ozaukee County, South Milwaukee, St. Francis, West Allis,

West Milwaukee, and Whitesh Bay. Te support rom thosecommunities is backed by voluntary contributions rom 17additional governmental partners o Root-Pike WIN to thesouth. More inormation on the campaign is available atrespectourwaters.org.

Continued from page 1


5/8SUMMER 2013 Page



Sweet Water Mini-Grants andFriends o the Parks Go Together

JoAn hERRIGES, SWEET WATER

Sweet Waters Water Quality Mini-Grant Program has beenin existence since 2010 and has awarded 43 mini-grants roma total o 90 submissions over the our separate unding yearso the program. Last year, the mini-grant range was between$1,000 and $5,000.

During the three years o the mini-grant program, a number o

applications have been rom groups that are riends o the various

Milwaukee County Parks. Tese Friends groups are composed odedicated volunteers who are very aware o the needs o their

neighborhood park. Since the County Parks have experienced

several decades o budget cut-backs which have aected physical

upkeep o the parks, Friends groups have sprouted to ll someo the void.

A positive outcome o some Friends groups eorts has been goingbeyond traditional physical upkeep by using green inrastructure to

solve problems caused by storm water runo. Green inrastructure

takes many ormsincluding rain gardens, native and prairieplantings, plant buers next to streams and rivers, and bio-swales

or water retention and cleansingto name a ew. wo examples

o these groups are Friends o Grant Park and Friends o EstabrookParkboth were 2012 Sweet Water Mini-Grant Program winners.

Te Friends o Grant Park began their mini-grant project this

spring to restore eroded ravine slopes. In 2010, a severe rain storm

washed-out a ravine bridge that lead to the beach on Lake Michigan.When visitors traversed the steep blu to the beach, plants and

ground cover were trampled, causing severe erosion. Te bridgewas replaced this spring with unding rom FEMA. Te $5,000mini-grant awarded by Sweet Water, along with matching unds,

was used by the Friends volunteers to replace lost soil and plant

native plants that wil l keep the soil in place, absorb water, andprevent erosion. Local middle school students grew some o the

plants rom seed, and planted them alongside the adults, as did a

local Boy Scout troop. In addition to using native plants, othererosion control measures were used.

Te Friends o Estabrook Park have used green inrastructure

this spring and summer to install a rain garden with its $1,500mini-grant award rom Sweet Water. Te purpose o the rain

garden is to catch storm water runo and prevent erosion o soil

and silt to the Milwaukee River rom a nearby dog park. Americorps

workers excavated the garden and the Friends group planted thearea. Some o the spring plantings were eaten by rabbits and will be

replaced later this summer with species less attractive to rabbits.

Sweet Water will oer another round o mini-grants this allkeep

abreast o application inormation starting in September on ourweb site at www.swwtwater.org. Sweet Water invites diverse

organizations to apply, and were always del ighted to make more

Friends along the way.

Photo:FriensofEs

tabrook

Park

Friends o Grant Park at work on trailFriends o Estabrook Park Rain Garden


7/8SUMMER 2013 Page

Conservation on Agricultural LandsChRIS ClAyTon, RIvER AllIAnCE oF WISConSIn

Smooth Transition or GIS StabEn GRAMlInG, 16Th STREET CoMMUnITy hEAlTh CEnTER

Conservation on agricultural landsthings such as buerstrips, grassed waterways, and the use o cover cropsisnot always practiced in locations or in ways that improve andprotect water quality.

A project in the Ulao Creek Watershed, located in OzaukeeCounty, aims to address this issue by using conservation inspecic elds that contribute the highest amount o pollutantsto the creek, which fows into the Milwaukee River.

With help rom the Fund or Lake Michigan, the OzaukeeCounty Land and Water Management Department is leadingthis project along with the River Alliance o Wisconsin.Tese partners understand the impact agricultural runo

has on water quality in the Milwaukee River Basin, and theyunderstand the importance o taking dierent approaches toreduce agricultural runo.

Several years ago, the DNR implemented the PriorityWatersheds Program, and as a result, many gains were madeto improve water quality. In the Milwaukee River Watershed,direct runo rom many barnyards to streams was addressed,and a number o armers began using conservation tillage.

However, water quality studies have shown that agricultural landsannually contribute about 30 percent o all phosphorus and 68percent o all total suspended solids to the Milwaukee River

watershed. Tese pollutants play a signicant role in the annualalgae blooms that occur at dierent locations in the watershed.

In July, Sweet Water bid arewell to its most recent GIS(Geographic Inormation Systems) Intern, William Mobley.Will completed his graduate studies in urban planning and GISat UW-Milwaukee earlier in the year and is now headed o totackle a Ph.D. program at exas A&M University. Will also

worked with CH2M Hill on GIS aspects o MMSDs RegionalGreen Inrastructure Plan.

With Wills departure, Sweet Water welcomed VincentFerguson to its GIS Intern position. Vincent is currently

working on a graduate degree in urban planning atUW-Milwaukee, and is excited to bring his GIS talentsto the eld o water resource protection.

Ongoing GIS projects that Vince is taking over include:

Geographic prioritization o Commercial/IndustrialStormwater BMPs in the Menomonee and Kinnickinnic

Watersheds with American Rivers

Analysis o existing land use policies on stormwatermanagement in the Menomonee Watershed with 1000Friends o Wisconsin

Development o a web-based map showing the locations oprojects unded with past Sweet Water mini-grants, and asimilar map showing the locations o Sweet Water PriorityProjects as identied in its 2011 Implementation Plan.

Te work o Sweet Waters GIS Intern is an extension o itsGIS Committee, which unctions to connect GIS skills anda growing array o GIS data sets with projects that are workingto improve Southeastern Wisconsins water resources.Project sta or organizations that have unmet GIS needsare encouraged to contact the Sweet Water WatershedCoordinators identied below to discuss how the GIS Interncould be o help to their project.

Menomonee Watershed Coordinators:Sean Foltz ([email protected]) andCheryl Nenn ([email protected])

Kinnickinnic Watershed Coordinator:Ben Gramling ([email protected])

Continued on page 8

Photo taken on June 19 o a newly planted feld in the Ulao Creek

Watershed. Because o the requent early-season rains and presence

o clay soils in the watershed, planting was delayed.

Photo taken on July 17 o a feld planted with soybeans in the Ulao

Creek Watershed. Many crops, like these soybeans, are growing behind

schedule. Frequent early-season rains coupled with an extended period

o bare soils oreshadow a relatively poor year or water quality.

Photo:RiverAllianceofWisconsin

Photo:RiverAllianceofWisconsin



University o Wisconsin Extension

9501 W. Watertw Pak Ra

Wauwatsa, WI 53226

PHONE (414) 256-4632

WEB aturaresurces.uwex.eu

EMAIL [email protected]

Learning for life

Sweet Water

600 East Greefe Aeue

Miwaukee, WI 53204

PHONE (414) 382-1766

WEB swwtwater.rg

EMAIL [email protected]

[email protected]

MAnAGInG EdIToR

Kate Mrga, Sweet Water

ConTRIbUTInG EdIToRS

Je Martika, Sweet Water

Gai Eppig oert, UW-Ex tesi

Tis puicati mae pssie i part trug

te geerus supprt

RiversReport PARTnERS

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Info and registration athankaaronstatetrail.org

September 10 129thAnnualGreatLakesRestorationConferenceMilwaukee Center400 West Wisconsin AvenueMilwaukee, WI

Inormation and registration athttp://conerence.healthylakes.org

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GreatLakesWeek:

InConjuctionwiththeGreatLakesRestorationConference Events in various locations in Milwaukee

Inormation and registration athttp://glweek.org

Now through September 6

2013RiverAllianceofWisconsinPhotographyContestDeadline or submissionsSeptember 6 at 11:59 pm

http://www.wisconsinrivers.org/get-involved/photography-contest

Fall Courses or Water

Technology CertifcateUWMSchoolofContinuingEducation

SePteMBer 12 - 13: Design andMaintenance o StormwaterInltration Practices

SePteMBer 25: Introduction

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October 15 - 17

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Inormation and registration athttp://aqua.wisc.edu/solm/Home.aspx

Upcoming Events

Continued from page 7

Wisconsins water quality standards orphosphorus cannot be met in the MilwaukeeRiver without addressing both urban andrural pollution sources. A water qualitystudy due to be completed this all willdocument the kinds o phosphorus andsediment reductions that must take placein small watersheds throughout the Basin,

like the Ulao Creek Watershed, to achievewater quality standards.

Te Ulao Creek project takes astraightorward approach to reducingpollutants; do an inventory o thephosphorus levels present in the soilso roughly 4,000 acres o armland,then use a nutrient management planningtool to estimate the risk o phosphorusruno rom each arm eld to Ulao Creek.

With those results in-hand, well beginto discuss implementing conservation

practices with the armers who can havethe greatest impact on improving the

water quality o Ulao Creek.

Te inventory and data-crunching phaseso the project will be nished by the endo the summer, allowing us to work withthe agricultural community to reducephosphorus runo. In the meantime,Ozaukee County, Milwaukee Riverkeepervolunteer stream monitors, and the River

Alliance o Wisconsin are all pitching in tocollect data detailing Ulao Creeks current

water quality conditions.Te Ulao Creek project is just one exampleo multiple partners working togetherthrough Sweet Water, and in new ways,to make progress toward achieving theregions water quality goals.

rivers report summer 2013

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