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In May, Clean Lakes Alliance renewed a partnership with UW-Madison Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department to support and sponsor the student capstone course focused on improving our beaches.

In this course, Senior Capstone Design, sponsoring partners who require creative solutions to specific problems team up with senior engineering students. Students create innovative designs to solve real problems by using knowledge and skills from classwork and work experiences, along with the guidance of volunteer professional mentors.

Clean Lakes Alliance is proud to be a sponsoring partner of the student capstone projects. Serving as a “client” to the students provides us a captive audience and valuable resource as we continue our work in inspiring the community to advocate for healthy lakes and beaches. In the meantime, students gain experience in designing solutions to not only environmental challenges but also an actual client’s needs. With 48 percent of the shoreline owned by the public and over 20 beaches in the Greater Madison area, we have numerous project opportunities for the students.

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Wednesday rain causes visible runoff into Lake Mendota

Controlling construction erosion

Grant Feature #1: Construction erosion inspections with Dane County

Did you know that construction erosion is a serious and ongoing threat to our lakes? Controlling construction erosion is one of 14 recommended actions to reduce algae blooms in the Yahara CLEAN Strategic Action Plan for Phosphorus Reduction. It is also one of eight focus areas in Plan 2020: A Clear Path Forward, Clean Lakes Alliance’s strategic operating plan.

With every failed, missing or improperly installed erosion-control measure, the risk of dirty runoff entering our lakes rises each time it rains. Whether this leads to a muddy street or a dirt-choked storm sewer drain, a mismanaged construction project can spell big trouble for water quality.

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Madison - Lake Monona

Our lakes are at the center of our community, but did you know that the shoreline of Lake Mendota almost looked entirely different? Test your knowledge of the history and ecology of the five Madison lakes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water quality monitoring

2017 results from our monitoring program

Overview

Figure 1. 2017 monitoring sites (Red: Near-shore; Blue: Off-shore).

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, volunteers at piers and beaches around the five Yahara lakes measured near-shore water clarity, air and water temperature, and noted several visual observations.

Visual observations included presence of algal blooms (green/blue-green), floating plant debris, swimmers, waterfowl, wave intensity, and general water appearance.

Volunteers were asked to log condition reports at least weekly on our website, lakeforecast.org, where all data are updated in real time.

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Clean Lakes Alliance, in partnership with Yahara Pride Farms and Endres Berryridge Farms, hosted our fourth annual Farm Tour on Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017. The event was held at the Endres Berryridge Farms manure compost site in Waunakee, Wisconsin.

The event brought together more than 120 attendees (farmers and suburbanites alike) to learn about manure composting as a manure management technique. Roughly 50 guests were members of the North American Manure Expo traveling from as far as Ontario, Canada to participate.

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message from Paul Soglin

In the City of Madison, we believe that stormwater runoff and the effects associated with it directly impacts the lives of our residents and our entire community, and we work diligently to protect those resources. Often we think of stormwater as a “public works problem,” but this is not always the case.

The more we work on water quality problems, we find that drinking water, stormwater and sewer treatment are linked in real ways by our actions. While it is possible to use the traditional model, it can produce unintended consequences including increased cost.

As we talk about the lakes and water quality today, it is important that we recognize we each have a role in the creation of stormwater runoff, and each of us needs to take part in reducing the impact of our actions.

Recently, Madison Water Utility, City Engineering, and many other partners have begun to create a voluntary certification program working with road salt applicators to reduce the amount of salt applied to parking lots and roads. The goal is to apply an amount needed for safety, because chloride can impact surface waters, wells, and even the sewer treatment plant.

Solutions to this and other stormwater pollutant problems, such as the phosphorous associated with fall leaf collection, may call for some non-traditional public works solutions, including source reduction and engaging the public to help us toward those efforts. This follows a long understood idea that it is better to avoid putting something in the water than it is to try and get it out down the road.

Expect Madison to continue to lead in finding new ways to address common problems like leaf collection and salt reduction. We are all in this together.

 

This message was originally published in May of 2017 for the 2016 State of the Lakes Annual Report.

message from Dane County Executive

A message from Joe Parisi, the Dane County Executive, for the 2016 State of the Lakes Annual Report: 

Two years ago, I put $60,000 in the county budget to analyze the water quality and phosphorus content of miles of streams that feed into our Yahara lakes. A year of research later, the findings are stark: if we don’t remove sludge from the bottom of these streams, it will take 99 years to see a 50% reduction in phosphorus that finds its way into our lakes.

Dane County will invest $12 million over the next four years to remove 870,000 pounds of this phosphorus – Dane County’s boldest, most tangible effort yet to improving the health and vitality of waters so integral to our economy and quality of life. This breakthrough project is the cornerstone of this year’s $10 million lakes clean-up county budget.

The data says what’s been done to date has worked at reducing what nutrients go on the land, when they’re applied, and most importantly, keeping them there. County staff and farmers have implemented conservation practices on 90% of the acres in the watershed and nutrient management plans have been completed on 75% of cropland. Soil testing shows farmlands in the watershed are on average already two times better than state standards for phosphorus.

We’re making progress, but we can’t reach our goal without getting at what’s already in the water. The project will return the stream bottoms to the way they were in 1890, allowing for new fisheries and healthy habitats for wildlife.

A significant component of what hurts our lakes is already in our waters. This budget starts the work of getting it out, removing 125 years of accrued sediment. Kevin Connors and his team of engineers at our Land and Water Resources Department should be commended for crafting such a common sense solution.

 

This message was originally published in May of 2017 for the 2016 State of the Lakes Annual Report.

Foley Lardner LLP

A sponsor since the beginning

At Clean Lakes Alliance, our mission is to create a community that is dedicated to protecting and improving water quality in the Yahara River watershed. Partners like Foley & Lardner help us make this goal a reality. One of four sustaining founders of Clean Lakes Alliance, Foley & Lardner is an example of a local company that makes lake health a top priority.

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Lands' End
Healthy lakes make the community and the economy stronger, and help local businesses recruit and retain employees. Clean Lakes Alliance is honored to partner with businesses that recognize the value of clean water, and that pitch in to keep our lakes healthy.

Today, we’re highlighting how Lands’ End has given back to our lakes over the years.

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Lake

At Clean Lakes Alliance, we know keeping our lakes healthy is a community job.

Our partners at Dane County, the City of Madison, the Yahara Watershed Improvement Network, and numerous local municipalities and agencies commit significant time and resources to our lakes. Clean Lakes Alliance works closely with the staff and leadership to support this work and to raise public support for healthy lakes. Clean Lakes Alliance’s work to improve water quality is fueled by the community at large. We rely on support from people like you, donations made by businesses, money raised through events and sponsorships, contributions of time, skills or, equipment, and, of course, by grants. We regularly receive grants from both local and national organizations—which allow our work to be applied beyond our immediate community.

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