Milwaukee River Basin

Total Maximum Daily Loads

(TMDLs)

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake

Conference

May 1, 2014

Steve Heinz, P.E.

Milwaukee River

Basin

2

3

Pollutants

• Phosphorous (TP)

• Sediment (TSS)

• Bacteria

Fecal coliform for 3 rivers & inner harbor

E. coli for outer harbor

4

The TMDL Development Team

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)

• Delegated responsibility to the states

• Provided GLRI grant funding

• Providing review and comment throughout the process

• Will grant final approval

5

The TMDL Development Team

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR)

• Designated as the responsible agency in Wisconsin

• Providing review and comment throughout the process

• Will grant approval prior to submittal to USEPA

6

The TMDL Development Team

Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC)

Providing technical assistance, review, and comment throughout the process

7

The TMDL Development Team

Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust (SWWT or Sweet Water)

• Providing public outreach assistance throughout the process

8

The TMDL Development Team

CDM Smith

• Leading the technical consultant team

Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD)

• Sponsoring the project as a third party on behalf of the WDNR

9

Here’s Dan Bounds of

CDM Smith …

10

TMDL Development Process

• TMDL - calculation of the amount of pollutant a water

body can receive from both point and nonpoint sources

and still meet water quality standards

TMDL Development Process

• TMDL = LA + WLA + MOS + RC

– LA = Load Allocation (Nonpoint Sources)

– WLA = Wasteload Allocation (Permitted Point Sources)

– MOS = Margin of Safety

– RC = Reserve Capacity

• Expressed in load per day

– Pounds /day

TMDL Development Process

• Determine water quality impairments and pollutant sources

• Establish baseline loading condition

• Determine water quality standards / targets

• Establish the allowable load (TMDL)

• Develop an allocation method

• Allocate the allowable load, provide reasonable assurance

• Write a report, submit it for USEPA approval

• Prepare an implementation plan

TMDL Development Process

• Allowable loads are divided proportionally according to

each source’s baseline load contribution

Ag, 35%

PS, 30%

MS4, 20%

NPU, 15%

Baseline Load

Ag, 35%

PS, 30%

MS4, 20%

NPU, 15%

Allowable Load

TMDL Development Process

• Data intensive TMDLs

• Pros

– Good understanding of the watershed, flows, sources

– Existing models, tools available for use

– Knowledgeable stakeholders

– High degree of confidence in the results

• Cons

– The data was collected, organized for another purpose

– The models, tools were not built for TMDL work

– Adjusting the data and models takes significant time

– Level of complexity and detail takes time to fully address

Progress to Date

• Established a stakeholder process, held 4 workshops

Progress to Date

• Hundreds of Water Quality Initiative model river reaches

were combined into 55 “TMDL reaches”

• Every source (discharger) in the entire watershed was

located, described

• The river models and estuary models were retooled for

TMDL use, highly detailed

• The flow condition to base the TMDLs on was decided

• Baseline loads were determined

• Preliminary, or Development Team “working” allowable

loads have been determined

Current Status

• Report submitted to WDNR on December 31, 2013

– MMSD WPDES permit requirement

– Development Team’s work in progress

– Draft TMDL report (data, sources, approach, process)

– Working TMDL allocation tables

• Refining the flow condition / approach used

– Every watershed is unique with respect to flows

– Initial approach prompted re-evaluation and a review of the

approach used in the Rock River TMDL

• Revising to be more consistent

• Called for 40 to 60% reductions from baseline conditions

Next Steps

• Spring / Summer 2014

– Stakeholder workshop to review draft TMDL allocations

and report

– Specific focus group meetings with stakeholders

– Public meeting and public hearing

– Complete TMDL report and submit to USEPA

• Summer / Fall 2014

– Implementation plan development

• Implementation measures (point and non-point)

• Factors that may affect implementation (i.e. climate change)

• Prioritization, schedule

http://www.mmsd.com/waterquality/

total-maximum-daily-loads