Sweet Water Story 7-10-2013

7/27/2019 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

[email protected].

(414) 382-1766

600 East Greenfeld Avenue

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204-2944

Sweet Water Story 7-10-2013

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