Sweet Water Story 7-10-2013
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Transcript of Sweet Water Story 7-10-2013
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THE SWEET WATER STORY
How a politically divided region became a national leader
in cooperative water restoration eorts
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o the Indians who rst settled and named the area,Milwaukee was the good place or gathering place,rich with water resources, with numerous rivers and an
ocean-sized lake. Te region was blessed with a seemingly
unlimited and pristine supply o water.
Te advent o European settlers rapidly transormed
Milwaukee into a booming city complete with all the
various kinds o pollution that have degraded Americas
lakes and streams. But in 2008, a group o leaders got
together, and against all odds, they united to create the
Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds rust, Inc., or Sweet
Water, the latter name signaling the goal o reclaiming
those once-resplendent waters.
Te challenge is not a small one. Sweet Waters geographic
reach includes ve rivers; the Milwaukee, Menomonee,
Root, Kinnickinnic, and Oak Creek, with a total lengtho 201 miles and 1,227 square miles o watersheds, as well
as 20 square miles o the Lake Michigan watershed, and
the Milwaukee Harbor estuary. Within that region are
THE SWEET WATER STORY
How a politically divided region became a national leader
in cooperative water restoration eorts
IMAGE HERE
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some 1.3 million people or 1,153 people per square mile
o watershed. Tis is less than the Charles River Watershed
in Boston (2,922 people per square mile), but ar more
than in the Potomac River watershed (380 people per
square mile). Such population density means there are
countless actors in this drama1.3 million people whose
day-to-day decisions can contribute greatly to non-pointpollution, which is the principal problem Sweet Water
was created to combat.
Te region is also divided into many political jurisdictions,
including Milwaukee County and parts o our other
countieswith a total o some 100 governmental units,
compared to 35 within the Charles River watershed,
and less than 50 in the Potomac watershed. Milwaukee
has been challenged with an intense orm o the classic
let-wing-versus-right-wing divisiveness, including one o
the most Democratic counties (Milwaukee) and three o
the most Republican counties(Waukesha, Washington,
Ozaukee) in the state.
Within the region, the so-called Sewer Wars raged or
more than a decade, rom the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s,
pitting Milwaukee against surrounding suburbs over how
to apportion the costs o the Deep unnel. Completed in
1996, the Deep unnel is a massive underground holding
tank built to handle stormwater overows that routinely
overwhelmed the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage
District (MMSD), orcing it to discharge sewage-laden
water into the lake and rivers. At a cost o $2 billion thetunnel was a great success, slashing the average number
o combined stormwater-sewerage overows rom 65 to
just two per year, and rom about 8.5 billion gallons o
sewage-laden overows, to just over one billion per year.
Yet, even ater the Deep unnel was built, there was still
pollution being caused that was unrelated to the sewerage
system. We were seeing beaches that were closed when
there werent overows, recalls Kevin Shaer, MMSD
executive director.
Further inrastructure upgrades by the MMSD were unlikely
to yield much additional improvement. Tey were getting
to the point o diminishing returns, recalls Mike Hahn,Chie Environmental Engineer or the seven-county
Southeastern Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC).
A lot had to be spent to get very marginal improvements
in water quality.
ROLE OF NON-POIN POLLUION
A potential culprit was non-point pollution. Unlike obvioussources o pollution once caused by the sewerage system
or by major industrial plants, non-point sources are small
and varied and are caused by municipalities, businesses,
armers, homeowners, rentersall the thousands o
organizations and million-plus residents o the region.
From ertilized arms where rain water carries phosphorus
and nitrogen into streams, to urban salting o streets and
sidewalks; rom bird droppings and pet waste, to lawn and
garden ertilizer; rom leaking sanitary sewers, to unused
prescription drugs thrown into toilets; the causes o non-point
pollution are many and varied.
Still, the precise impact o non-point pollution wasnt
cleara study was needed. In 2002, MMSD was about
to launch a study that would make recommendations or
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uture actions, including any spending on new inrastructure
through the year 2020. Meanwhile, SEWRPC which
had done regional water studies going back to the 1970s
that helped pave the way or the Deep unnel also planned
a study to upgrade its regional water plan. Shaer suggested
the two groups work together.
We decided that by partnering we would gather better
inormation on where the water pollution in the region wascoming rom, Shaer says. Te Wisconsin Department o
Natural Resources became another participant in the eort.
Te result was a joint ve-year study completed in 2007
that showed that the causes o pollution had ip-opped:
combined storm water-sewerage overows had gone rom
the major culprit, to causing just 9% o regional water
pollution; non-point sources now caused 87% o regional
water pollution, up rom 44% prior to the Deep unnels
creation. Te major source o water pollution was now
non-point source pollution.
It made or a very powerul pie chart. Its a pretty eective
illustration o the role o non-point pollution, Hahn says.
Clearly, any eort to improve regional water quality needed
to target non-point sources.
Meanwhile, the Public Policy Forum had completed a
study, released in February 2006, Clean Water, Healthy
Future, that looked at the regions water issues. Water isemerging as a natural resource that is likely to dene the
21st century in ways similar to the ways oil shaped the
20th century, the report noted. Southeastern Wisconsin
is rich with water resources, but is acing immediate
problems, such as dropping water tables and deteriorating
water quality, the report went on. Leaders must think
strategically and regionally about managing water assets in the
long term. Te study suggested a number o approachesto regional management, including one that relies on
cooperation among existing jurisdictions and authorities.
Among those who served on the Public Policy Forums
advisory panel was Peter McAvoy, an environmental health
expert with the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center,
and Nancy Frank, a proessor with the UW-Milwaukee
School o Architecture and Urban Planning. McAvoy, who
also served as an advisor to Te Brico Fund in Milwaukee,
helped secure unding that went to Frank to begin pursuing
some kind o integrated approach to regional water quality.
Meanwhile, Shaer began inormally meeting with individuals
and groups to discuss implementation strategies o the joint
2007 study that included a regional approach to the problem.
Everybody kept saying thats a great idea, Shaer recalls.
SWEE WAERS CREAION
Shaer soon connected to Frank, and they used the Brico
unding to organize a series o meetings with a range o people,
including municipal leaders rom the region, academics
and representatives o Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) with an environmental ocus. By March 2008,
the group nailed down the goals and structure o a new
organization, the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds
rust, which soon became known as Sweet Water.
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Te new groups purpose would be a bold one: to achieve
signicant improvements in water quality, aesthetics and
habitat in southeastern Wisconsins watersheds, moving
the region orward toward the primary goals o the Federal
Clean Water Act o 1972 - shable, swimmable waters.
Shaer and McAvoy approached Steve Brick o the Joyce
Foundation about possible unding. He really saw the
vision, Shaer recalls, how this could help Milwaukee
but could also be a model or other Great Lakes states and
the nation as well. Te Joyce Foundation provided one
year o unding in 2008, and in April 2009 renewed the
unding with a three-year, $1.9 million grant. In April,
2012, it announced another three-year grant o $1.5
million to Sweet Water.
While the Joyce Foundations unding was crucial, many
millions more would be needed to take on the challenge
Sweet Water aced. In order to maximize its leverage and
minimize its costs, Sweetwater was organized as a small
hub that orchestrates and administers a collaborative eort
by a range o regional organizations and experts. It isgoverned by a broadly-based, diverse Steering Council,
including representatives rom government, business,
academia, and environmental non-prots.
LEADERS AND ACCOMPLISHMENS
Pat Marchese, a ormer executive director o MMSD, served
as interim director o Sweetwater, until a permanent director,
Je Martinka, was hired in January 2010. In its brie history,
Sweetwaters accomplishments have been many:
Heping uniy the regin in a cmmitment t imprving
water quaity. Sweet Water has become the go to partner
or any such eort, helping bring together Democrats andRepublicans, academics and business people, state and local
governments, in joint eorts to improve water quality. As
Martinka puts it, both sides in the old Sewer Wars are
now on our sidethe side o cleaner water.
Heping create actin pan with pecic utin
t the prbem. Sweet Water worked with the various
stakeholders to create Watershed Restoration Plans or the
Kinnickinnic River in 2010, Menomonee River in 2011,
and is currently helping create a plan or the Root River/
Pike River region. Tese plans are becoming the basis or
on-the-ground actions to improve water quality.
Raiing mney t hep und water retratin efrt.Sweet Water has helped win more than $4.5 million in
grants rom local and national oundations, and some
$7 million in ederal and state unding.
Pubicizing efrt t imprve water quaity. From its
annual Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conerence, which presentsspeakers and workshops about successul water quality
eorts, to television advertisements that urge individuals
to take action, Sweet Water is spreading the gospel o
how to make better water quality policies and decisions
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throughout the region. Its most recent Respect Our Waters
campaign eaturing Sparkles the dog presented 700 commercials
on FOX6 and generated news stories on a variety o V
and radio stations about this educational campaign.
Heping create waterhed-baed water permit. With
some 100 municipal governments in the region, the rules or
such permits can vary and conict. Sweet Water is one o just
three programs in America sanctioned by the Environmental
Protection Agency to create watershed-based permits and
has worked with the state Department o Natural Resources
to do just that. A stormwater permit in place or the
Menomonee River watershed has united municipalities in
a joint approach.
Heping aunch a water trading prgram.A March 2010White Paper by Sweet Water helped trigger a state DNR
decision to create administrative rules or a trading program
in Wisconsin. Under this program, or instance, a
downstream municipal water treatment plant could pay
upstream arms to institute best practices that will reduce
the amount o pollutants released into a river. Te result is
a cleaner river and lower water treatment costs or the
municipality, with no added cost or armers or modernizing
their operations.
Heping imprve the water quaity regina river.Grants won by Sweet Water have had an impact. In the
case o the Kinnickinnic River, a grant helped pay or a
major initiative to dredge the KK River rom Chase and
Cleveland Avenues to the Inner Harbor. At the same time,
MMSD removed 1,500 eet o concrete lining, which
restored its natural banks, and community volunteers
cleaned debris in and along the river. o be sure, more
improvement is needed, but already the group American
Rivers has dropped the Kinnickinnic River rom its list
o the ten most endangered rivers in the nation.
Awarding mini-grant t und gra-rt water
imprvement. Non-point pollution requires large amountso action by as many players as possible; to install rain
barrels and low-ow toilets, to create rain gardens and
restore native prairies, to prevent pet waste or lawn ertilizers
rom owing into rivers. o date, Sweet Water has awarded
60 mini-grants ranging rom $500-$4,500 to 50 groups,
awarding a total o $83,000, to und a wide-range o
grassroots actions to improve water quality in the region.
Te more people and organizations we can inspire to take
action and change their behavior, the more success we
have combatting the problem.
NEW CHALLENGES O COME
Five years ago, the eort o
restoring the watersheds o
Southeastern Wisconsin was
ractured into activities by dozens
o local government units and
non-prots. While much great
work was being done, the lack
o coordination signicantly
hindered the goal o achieving
shable, swimmable waters in
the region. oday, non-prots, academics, business leaders
and government units are all working side-by-side in a
unied eort to clean up the regions water, thanks to the
work o Sweet Water. Bringing stakeholders together has
helped dramatically accelerate progress toward achieving
clean water.
Tats the Sweet Water story. But there are still many chapters to
go. From helping clean up large sections o the Kinnickinnic
River to launching educational campaigns on how to combat
non-point pollution, rom installing rain barrels in homes
to creating watershed-based action plans to change theregion, the Southeastern Wisconsin Watershed rust has
shown an ability to strategize on many dierent levels. Te
work is ar rom over. But Sweet Water stands ready to take
on the coming challenges.
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MILWAUKEE RIVER WATERSHED
KINNICKINNIC RIVER WATERSHED
ROOT RIVER WATERSHED
MENOMONEE RIVER WATERSHED
OAK CREEK WATERSHED
LAKE MICHIGAN DRAINAGE
MAPPING
SWEET WATERS REGION
RIvER LENGTH AREA POPuLAT ION
MILWAUKEE 104 mi. 700 sq. mi. 836,700
ROOT 43.7 mi. 197.6 sq. mi. 170,100
MEnOMOnEE 33 mi. 135.8 sq. mi. 320,000
KInnIcKInnIc 9.6 mi. 24.7 sq. mi. 143,300
OAK cREEK 10.8 mi. 28.2 sq. mi. 50,000
LAKE MIchIgAn
DRAInAgE AREA 40.7 sq. mi. 100,000
ToTAls 1,127 sq. mi. 1.6 million
MEASuRINGSWEET WATERS REGION
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REDUCING sToRM WATER RUNoFF
Te Sweet Water region is heavily urbanized, meaning
there are large amounts o concrete and asphaltsidewalks
and streets and driveways
that create run-o into rivers
and Lake Michigan. Tis
can sweep salt, pet waste,
bird droppings, ertilizer
and other pollutants into the
waterways. More than 86%o the ecal coliorm bacteria
in the rivers comes rom
urban stormwater runo.
During heavy rainstorms this runo can also contribute
to overows in the Deep unnel, orcing the Milwaukee
Metropolitan Sewerage District to release water with
partially-treated sewage into Lake Michigan.
Households, businesses and other organizations can
reduce stormwater runo by replacing concrete, asphalt
and lawns with rain gardens, trees and porous pavement.
Installation o rain barrels, green roos, low-ow toilets
and low-ow shower heads can also reduce the quantityo water pouring into stormwater and sewage systems.
Many municipalities in the region now charge or water
and sewage services based on the amount o impervious
suraces the household or business has.
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BETTER EDUCATING THE PUBlIC
A survey o the regions people published by the Public
Policy Forum or Sweet Water in 2011 ound widespread
misunderstandings about water pollution:
Most believe the major causes o water pollution are
sewer overows and industrial wastes; in act 87% is
caused by non-point sources.
84% believe their actions dont aect water quality;
in act, individuals are key contributors to pollution,
through their use o lawn and garden ertilizer, salt or
driveways and sidewalks, poor disposal o pet waste,
homes with leaking sanitary sewers and other causes.
Just 4% o those surveyed believe water is important
to the regions economy; in act Milwaukee has many
industries that depend on plentiul water, and the
regions water supply is a key and ever-more important
economic asset.
Tese misunderstandings present an educational challenge
or Sweet Water and its partners to change individual
behavior to reduce non-point pollution. But the example
o Shorewood proves it can be done: A 5-year project theretargeted ve areas to enhance public awareness o stormwa-
ter retention strategies, with great success. Over 240 green
roos were constructed, 985 downspouts disconnected, 268
rain barrels installed and 61 rain gardens created.
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sWEET WATERs MAJoR FUNDER
Since 2008, the Joyce Foundation has regularly unded
Sweet Water. Te Chicago-based oundation was established
in 1948 by Beatrice Joyce Kean, the sole heir o theJoyce amily o Clinton Iowa, whose wealth came rom
the lumber industry.
Te Joyce Foundations mission is to support the development
o policies that both improve the quality o lie or people
in the Great Lakes region and serve as models or the rest
o the country. Its unding has ocused on several areas,
including the environment.
Te oundation describes itsel as committed to protecting
and restoring the Great Lakes and developing cleaner energy
or the Midwest region, especially through investments inenergy efciency. Its Great Lakes priorities include reducing
polluted runo into the Lakes through restoration o watersheds
in the Milwaukee and oledo areas. Sweet Water is proud
to be part o that eort.
sWEET WATERs sTEERING CoUNCIl (2012)
Nancy Frank, Chair; UW-Milwaukee
om Grisa, Vice-Chair; City o Brookfeld
David Lee, Secretary-reasurer; We Energies
Preston Cole, City o Milwaukee
Sharon Gayan, WI Department o Natural Resources
Susan Greeneld, Root-Pike Watershed Initiative
Mike Hahn, Southeastern WI Regional Planning Commission
Andy Holschbach, Ozaukee CountyJ. Scott Mathie,Metropolitan Builders Association
Peter McAvoy, Sixteenth Street Community Health Center
Neil Palmer, Village o Elm Grove
Kevin Shaer,Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
Dan Stoel, Washington County
Brett Wallace, WI Department o ransportation
sWEET WATERs DIRECToR
Je Martinka has served Sweet Water since January 2010.
He has a diverse background, having handled jobs in
government with Milwaukee County and the City
o Milwaukee, and managed a variety o non-prot
organizations in Milwaukee and the win Cities, having
most recently served as Executive Director o the West 7th
Community Center in St. Paul. Martinka earned Masters
degrees in Urban Planning and Public Administrationrom UW-Madison and Bachelors degrees in Geological
Sciences and Anthropology rom UW-Milwaukee.
KEY sWEET WATER FoUNDING NGo PARTNERs
Milwaukee Riverkeeper
River Revitalization Foundation
Sixteenth Street Community Health Center
Clean Wisconsin
Midwest Environmental Advocates
River Alliance o Wisconsin
1000 Friends o WisconsinAmerican Rivers
THE SWEET WATER TEAM
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THE lIFE oF A RIVER
Te water quality o the rivers in the Sweet Water region
is a story both good and bad. On the one hand you can
encounter nature at its nest: a 0.4 mile stretch o the Root
River is known by canoeing enthusiasts or the quality o
its whitewater rapids. Tere are lovely, natural wateralls
on rivers like the Menomonee and Milwaukee. Te Root
River-Pike River Watershed exemplies the wonderul
complexity o these systems, with 5 major lakes, 450 miles
o rivers and streams and 8,500 acres o wetlands.
On the other hand, the rivers have been degraded by
nitrogen and phosphorus pollution and some parts o thestreams may have high levels o ecal coliorm bacteria.
Riparian buersstrips o vegetation along riverscan
catch runo rom elds and streets, helping to keep
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pollutants rom entering the water. But a survey by the
Southeastern Regional Planning Commission ound that
much o the stream buers in the Sweet Water region
were ar too inadequate to provide enough protection.
Luckily, attempts to reduce pollution, improve water
quality and return the rivers to their more natural condition
can quickly revitalize them: In two key examples, ater
removal o the North Avenue Dam on the Milwaukee
River, the number o sh species rose rom 4 to 30. And
the Mequon Nature Preserve in the Milwaukee River
Watershed has restored over 550 acres o armland to itsoriginal habitat o beech and maple orests and wetlands,
thereby relieving some o the chronic ooding problems
in the Cedarburg Road corridor.
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THE REsPECT oUR WATERs CAMPAIGN
In 2012, Sweet Water launched a new educational campaign
to help teach residents in seven counties o southeast
Wisconsin that their actions are key to reducing pollution
carried into streams and Lake Michigan by stormwater. Te
V ads starred our new mascot, Sparkles the Water Spanielpuppet, with the voice o Emmy-winning, Kenosha-born
comedian Je Cesario. In our, 30-second spots, Sparkles
talked about the importance o picking up yard debris,
cleaning up dog poop, using lawn ertilizer and chemicals
responsibly, and preventing oil and uid leaks rom cars.
Created with help rom veteran Milwaukee advertising and
marketing rm, Eichenbaum & Associates, the ads ran
on FOX6 rom June to September 2012. Te campaign
included 700 commercials and news stories on V, radio,
in print and on-line, and a complementary outreach eort,with booths at 32 community events where sta distributed
Sparkles pins, water quality tip cards, and ree Milorganite
GardenCare products.
Sweet Water and Root-Pike WIN joined orces to develop
the campaign and raise commitments toward a two-year
(2012-2013) budget o $250,000. Te campaign was guided
and unded by a union o more than 50 local governments,
businesses and NGOs in the region, and sought to maximize
bang or the buck: Te 2012 campaigns cash investment
o about $120,000 achieved a media impact valued at nearly
$240,000. Te 2013 campaign is expected to outdo 2012,
in dollars spent, ads aired, grass-roots outreach, and overall
impact on public awareness.
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wwtwater.rg
(414) 382-1766
600 East Greenfeld Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204-2944