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2022_Women-in-Water-and-Sustainability

January 31, 2022 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Join us for this FREE virtual event to learn from women leading water and sustainability efforts in Wisconsin! Register to receive the Zoom link and watch virtually.

REGISTER FOR EVENT

About the Talk

Hear from  women about their role, research, and practice in water and sustainability. This special event duHear from  women about their role, research, and practice in water and sustainability. This special event during Frozen Assets week will feature an emceed panel discussion from three women working in water and sustainability in our community.

About our Speakers

Daphne Joyce Wu is a current senior at Middleton High School. She has been involved with sustainability efforts since she was in middle school, and grew increasingly concerned about climate change through high school. When she was a freshman, she began the Environmental Committee, which then combined with the school’s Ecology Club to form what is now Green Team. Green Team currently consists of more than 100 students and have turned out many environmental projects throughout the years, reducing the ecological imprint of the school and its population. Current projects include shifting single-use markers to refillable ones, recycling all writing utensils, visiting elementary schools, recycling batteries, single-use masks, and sneakers, reducing fast fashion through a school-wide Instagram thrifting account, and putting sustainability tips on the TVs. In college, she hopes to double major in economics and environmental studies. Daphne hopes to work on a national or international level in writing sustainability policies and regulations that will promote a sustainable future.

Dr. Margaret Lumley graduated with her PhD in Chemistry from UW-Madison in the summer of 2020. During her PhD, she worked to develop a technology that can be used to remove and recover salt, and specifically chloride, from water. In Madison, the widespread use of water softener salt and road salt lead to elevated salt concentrations in wastewater. Wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove dissolved salt and so that salt ultimately gets discharged to the environment. Dissolved salt contains chloride, which is harmful to freshwater aquatic species. The technology Margaret and her team have developed provides an affordable and energy-efficient strategy to remove and recover chloride from water to preserve freshwater ecosystems. High chloride concentrations are an issue across the Midwest and Northeast as water softener salt and road salt abound in these regions. Margaret recently formed a startup, ChloBis Water, Inc., with her former PhD advisor and another researcher to commercialize their technology. They were recently awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation, and Margaret will transition to working as the full-time CEO of ChloBis Water in February 2022.

Dr. Marissa Jablonski is an accomplished water engineer, environmental advisor, and plastics-reduction expert who has worked in more than 45 countries. Her way of understanding and engaging in complex interactions between human beings and environmental systems, combined with her skills in storytelling and systems processes, make her a much sought after consultant and public speaker. Marissa is an advocate for minorities and women in STEM fields and served as coordinator of NSF’s FORTE program during 2009-2015. During that time, she also designed an internationally recognized project that engaged with informal dye industries in rural India to affordably clean their wastewater. Marissa’s innovative outlook on research, business, and life has won her many awards and praise from groups that include the National Science Foundation, Philanthropic Education Organization, Mondialogo, and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.

Event Details

This event will be held online via Zoom. The online talk is free and open to the public. A link to access the talk LIVE will be sent to all registered attendees ahead of the event.

Partners

We are excited to partner with Doyenne on this event. Doyenne unleashes and ignites the power and potential of women entrepreneurs to create entrepreneurial ecosystems where all women thrive.

Clean Lakes Alliance events are also produced in partnership with the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, with presenting sponsors First Weber Foundation and Johnson Financial Group, hosting sponsor The Edgewater, supporting sponsor National Guardian Life Insurance Company, and media partner WKOW 27 News.

Frozen Assets Festival

This event is part of Clean Lakes Alliance’s week-long Frozen Assets Festival . Every year, the Frozen Assets Festival raises the profile of our lakes as one of our community’s greatest assets. With over 10,000 attendees in 2020, Frozen Assets raised more than $130,000 for our lakes! Since 2012, Frozen Assets has raised $1,200,000 for lake improvement projects, educational programs, and water quality monitoring.

Free

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Local Madison area photographers share their view of our lakes

The Greater Madison area often tops lists of best places to live. One of the reasons frequently cited, is our lakes. We talked to five photographers in the Madison area and found out what they love most about photographing the Yahara lakes. Read more from the photographers, and see a sampling of their work – as they feature different views of our watershed.

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Madison Magnet Kayaks for a Cause - Lake Wingra

Clean Lakes Alliance “One Water” Statement

All water in the Yahara Watershed is connected. Our lakes, streams, wetlands, and groundwater make up critical components of an interdependent hydrologic system. Given the immeasurable value of clean drinking and surface water to Greater Madison, ALL our water resources demand respect, protection, and wise stewardship for the betterment of future generations.

Giddings Park on Lake Monona - we have "one water" in southern Wisconsin - ground water, surface water, and drinking water is connected
Giddings Park on Lake Monona

The story of our lakes

The story of water in the Yahara Watershed is one of power, richness, and fragility. We begin that story in the eye of a storm. What follows is the journey of water as it moves and cycles through and beyond our Greater Madison neighborhoods.

Part 1: Following the rain

It’s a spring morning and the thickening clouds are dark and turbulent as they hover above the Yahara Watershed. Like shape-shifting billows of grey smoke, the formless masses of floating water vapor gather overhead. Lightning flashes and thunder cracks. Suddenly, a torrent of water unleashes from the blackened skies above. Cascading showers of raindrops pelt the rooftops, streets, and farm fields below. The all-consuming hiss, like radio static, is interrupted only by periodic thunderclaps. Salvos of speeding droplets explode into tiny bursts of watery shrapnel on impact. Soon, plants and tree canopies grow heavy with moisture. Bare soil liquefies to mud, and pooling water starts to creep downhill, following paths of least resistance.

The scene is a harbinger for what is to come. Creeks and streams will be among the first to react, swelling against their banks as this new payload is delivered and pushes along hydrologic freeways. Next, downstream lakes will begin to gradually rise within their basins, accepting the new surge of inflowing water at a higher rate than their fixed outlets can expel.

Yahara lake map
Map of the Yahara River chain of lakes

Following the landscape

The skyward influx of new water is both absorbed and repelled as it falls across a 384-square-mile watershed. Six cities, 11 villages, and 19 towns occupy the landscape that is simultaneously forgiving and unforgiving. With speeds and pathways guided by topography and land cover, the water from above travels where the watershed tells it to go. Tree canopies form the first line of defense, with their high tangles of leaves and branches intercepting the deluge like sticky umbrellas. Understory plants stand at the ready to serve as the next line of defense, like carpets of protection against the continuing onslaught. With thirsty roots channeling water into spongy soils, the earth naturally filters and cleanses the water as it percolates down into the deeper, geologic sandstone layers that lie deep below.

Seeping into and through the porous and gravely rock, rainwater that escaped thirsty roots begins its much slower journey downward and laterally beneath the earth. Lying buried hundreds of feet deep is a vast deposit of permeable, water-holding sandstone, providing 10 billion gallons of drinking water every year to Madison alone. Directed by the tilt of bedrock, the rainwater bleeds through a labyrinth of tiny sandstone voids and glacial rubble, eventually joining the “older” water of storms that have since come and gone. As groundwater levels rise in response, gravitational forces continue to nudge this slow, subterranean migration toward the nearest intercepting stream channel or lake basin. It is here where the water may once again reemerge as cool, bubbling springs that steadily feed and replenish nature’s vascularity.

Part 2: Engineered pathways

Over farmland, the rain finds fields sprouting with young crops or covered with pasture grass. Thirsty plants hold and drink what they can handle as soils absorb or shed what remains. Any exposed ground quickly saturates and then liquefies. As water percolates downward, it either feeds shallow groundwater aquifers or encounters the buried, horizontal drain tiles that direct it through pipes to a nearby stream or ditch.

Acker Farm in the Town of Springfield
Former Acker farm on the north side of Lake Mendota – this area is the new addition to Pheasant Branch Conservancy and is currently being restored into a native prairie

Urban pathways

Over our cities and neighborhoods, the storm’s volley collides into armored rooftops, gathering in gutters and gushing out downspouts. It pours into roadside ditches and storm sewers, and is flushed through networks of culverts or underground pipes. Hardened, linear paths efficiently channel flows along predetermined paths. Water is shed off driveways, streets, and parking lots. At the same time, it encounters the patchwork of absorbent lawns, gardens, and parks that are the entry portals down into the otherwise shielded earth. The urban landscape drains quickly, much like a bathtub, or else risks flooding when structured pathways and points of discharge become overwhelmed or compromised.

It is with that same efficiency that rainwater scrubs accumulated debris and residue from our city streets, threatening to clog sewers and foul the surface waters to which it is being carried. Unlike the 55°F springs that seep from the ground, the water is warmer and unfiltered. And like a conveyor belt, it carries whatever it can gather along its route, limited only by the energy derived from its volume and velocity.

Part 3: Giant water basins

The Yahara River is the watershed’s main surface drainage artery, flowing from north to south, through the chain of lakes. It is a 43-mile ribbon of water (measured from its start in Columbia County to the outlet of Lake Kegonsa). The river collects and delivers the storm’s aftermath to massive, geologic depressions. Lakes Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa, and Kegonsa together hold 810 million tons of water. With a combined volume of more than 325 billion gallons, the lakes function as the temporary holding tanks of all that the watershed is capable of delivering. While continuously accepting water and releasing it through fixed outlets, the sheer size of the lakes means the average water molecule will require six years to make its way through the chain. 

Water residence time in Yahara lakes
Water residence times in lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa

As the heavy storm clouds sweep across the Yahara Watershed, they also dump their contents directly onto the 29 square miles of lake surface.  The water is cleaner, nutrient poor, and slightly more acidic without having come into contact with the surrounding land. It is also the first to touch the lakes, followed by storm runoff, and, in time, slow-moving groundwater. Stormwater flows into Lake Monona and Lake Wingra peak a day or two sooner compared to the other lakes. Their immediate drainage areas are largely covered by pavement that rockets rainwater through storm sewers.

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, shown in 2018

Part 4: Pumping and treating

Nearly a half-million people call the watershed home. These individuals occupy approximately 275,000 houses, and the employed are generally going to separate buildings in the watershed. Life continues as the storm rumbles and weeps outside our protective cocoons. Faucets turn on, water bottles are filled, and toilets flush as we go about our day.

The potable water that flows from our taps is pumped from wells. Like giant straws, they extract from the reservoir of groundwater deep below the Earth’s surface. Once considered untouched and unspoiled, we know that is not the case. All water, regardless of location, is impacted by our activities. In our cities, utilities regularly test and treat the deep aquifer water for the regulated contaminants we know about and monitor. The same cannot be said for the shallower, private well water that serves our rural areas.

Final Tank at Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Final water tank in the sewerage cleaning process at Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

We pump 10 billion gallons of water every year from the aquifer beneath Madison to meet one city’s water demands. That equates to more than eight tons of water every minute at every operating well across the city. Madison alone has roughly 860 miles of water main under its streets to supply our homes and businesses.

It is estimated that about 29% of the water that falls on the watershed each year is responsible for replenishing that aquifer. As it is used, water from our showers, sinks, and toilets is sent down drains into sanitary sewers. Piped and pumped to the Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant near Lake Waubesa, the water goes through a multi-step separation and cleaning process. The water is then released into Badfish Creek and makes its way out of this watershed. It is a continual cycle of extraction, treatment, and out-of-basin discharge to the tune of 42 million gallons per day.

2018 Flooding
2018 flooding in southern Wisconsin

Part 5: Changing fate

Meteorologists will later report that the storm was measured as a 2.5-inch rainfall—an amount of water collected in a rain gauge over a 24-hour period. A storm of this intensity used to occur once per year on average in southern Wisconsin, but is seen more frequently with an increasingly wetter climate. Meteorologists will also note that average annual precipitation for our area has increased 24% since 1970. The trend portends more runoff and flooding down the road. For the storm that just passed, it will take more than two weeks for this latest pulse of water to traverse the watershed and its chain of lakes.

Before groundwater pumping began, area lakes and streams received an estimated 421 million gallons of spring water a day. That has dropped to about 373 million gallons a day, with many springs drying up and disappearing entirely. Lake Wingra alone has lost about half its previously documented springs.

Important choices

As the Yahara Watershed continues to develop, our community will have important choices to make. Will we allow even less water to infiltrate the ground to replenish our aquifers? Will we throw more unfiltered runoff at our lakes and streams? Or perhaps, will we waste even more water down our drains and toilets? The lifeblood and fate of our community are at stake, and it will be our collective actions that determine the future we choose. 

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Volunteers from The Digital Ring at Pheasant Branch Conservancy

Thank you community partners!

Clean Lakes Alliance’s community partners invest in our watershed through their generous financial and in-kind contributions.

Become a Lake Partner

Every year, hundreds of local businesses and organizations support Clean Lakes Alliance by volunteering, providing in-kind support, and donating to protect and improve water quality in our lakes. You can be part of this effort! Become a Lake Partner today starting at just $75.

Thank you to our Lake Partners

2024 Lake Partners (click to open)

2024 Lake Partners (January 1st – March 31st, 2024) Lake Partners who donate at the $1,000 level or more are also recognized as part of the “Yahara Society” (denoted with asterisks below).

A+ Heler’s Dry Ice & C02 LLC
Accord Realty of Madison
ActionCOACH Business & Executive Coaching of Madison
Alliant Energy Corp *
Alpha Gamma Rho Educational Foundation
American Family Insurance – Josh Erickson Agency LLC
American Risk Management Resources
American Transmission Company *
Architectural Building Arts *
Argent Capital Inc.
Associated Bank *
Associated Housewrights
barre3 Madison *
Bell Laboratories *
Best Western Premier Park Hotel
Bierock
Bishops Bay Country Club
Black Men Coalition
Blain’s Farm & Fleet of Madison *
Bowl-A-Vard Lanes
Buck & Honey’s – Monona
Buttonwood Partners Inc.
Buye Law Office LLC *
Camp Randall Rowing Club
Capital Area Regional Planning Commission
Capital City Chapter of Muskies Inc.
Capitol Neighborhoods Inc.
Capitol Water Trails, LTD
Carrington Lawn & Landscape
Certco Inc.
CG Schmidt *
Chads Design Build
Chas Martin Team – Sprinkman Real Estate *
Cherokee Park Inc. DBA TPC Wisconsin
City of Madison Engineering *
City of Monona
Clasen Quality Chocolate
Corner Stone Construction of Janesville Inc.
CPU Solutions Inc.
Cresa Madison *
Crown Point Resort
Crystal Cleaners Inc *
Culver’s of Madison – Cottage Grove Rd
D.L. Anderson Marine Contractors
Dane County Conservation League
Deconstruction Inc.
Delta Beer Lab
Destination Madison
Dirigible Studio
Don’s Marine LLC
DORN True Value Hardware
Downtown Madison Inc.
Dream House Dream Kitchens *
Edinger Surgical Options
FCS Partners LLC
Fields Auto Group Madison *
Fiore Companies Inc. *
Fire Light Group
Fontana Sports
Formecology LLC
Foundation for Dane County Parks
Four Lakes Traditional Music Collective
Four Lakes Yacht Club
Frank Liquor Co Group *
Friends of Cherokee Marsh
Friends of Lake Kegonsa Society *
Friends of Lake Wingra
Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy
Garland Alliance Inc.
Goldstein Advisors
Goodman’s Jewelers Inc.
Goodwin Recruiting
GRAEF
Great Lakes Ecological Monitoring LLC
gThankYou LLC
Hart DeNoble Builders Inc.
Heartland Credit Union
Henry Farms LLC
Henry Farms Prairie Spirits LLC
Highway 51 Liquor and Bait
Honeybee Cannabis Company
HoneyTrek.com
Hovde Properties LLC *
Hydrite Chemical Co. *
Ideal Builders Inc.
Interiors By B
Isthmus Partners LLC
JD Hellenbrand Piers and Lifts
JD McCormick Properties *
John Marshall, CPA
Johnson Financial Group *
Josh Lavik & Associates
JT Klein Company Inc.
KEVA Sports Center *
Klaas Financial Asset Advisors LLC
Lake Edge Apartments
Lake Effect HR & Law LLC *
Lake Kegonsa Sailing Club
Lake Monona Sailing Club
Lake Ridge Bank *
Lake Waubesa Conservation Association
Lakeshore Apartments *
Lakeview Veterinary Clinic
Lavish by Lana
Lerdahl Business Interiors
Little Luxuries
M3 Insurance *
Mad-City Ski Team
Mader Designs
Madison Area Antique & Classic Boat Society – Glacier Lakes
Madison Dentistry
Madison Gas and Electric *
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Madison No Fear Dentistry
Madison Optical Center
Madison School and Community Recreation (MSCR)
Madison Veterinary Specialists S.C. *
Madison Water Utility
MaraLee Olson Design Studio LLC
Marigold Kitchen
Mazanet Marina
MCV Salon
Meister’s K&M Tree and Landscaping Inc.
Merrill Lynch
Middleton Boat House
Midnight Splash – Houseboat Charter
Monona Grove Business Men’s Associations
Monona Lakeview Apartments
Monona Motors LLC
Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center
Monona United Methodist Church
Moren Investments LLC
Murphy Desmond S.C. *
National Guardian Life Insurance Company *
Oak Park Dental *
Off Broadway Drafthouse
OpenHomes Realty
Paragon Place Communities
Parma Properties LLC
Patrick Properties
Perkins Coie LLP *
Pharo Marine *
Phoebe R. and John D. Lewis Foundation *
Premier Cooperative
Purple Cow Organics
Quam’s Marine & Motor Sports
Restaino & Associates Realtors Relocation
ResTech Services
Reynolds Transfer & Storage Inc.
Risk Alternatives LLC
Robertson Cosmetic Center
Sentinus Wealth
Shive-Hattery Inc.
Silt Sock Inc.
Singlewire Software
Sprinkman Real Estate *
SRF Consulting Group Inc. *
Stafford Rosenbaum LLP
Stark Company Realtors *
State Line Distillery
Studio 88
Summers Christmas Tree Farm
Sun Valley Christmas Trees
Surly Brewing Co.
Sweeney’s Aquatic Weed Removal LLC
TDS Custom Construction Inc.
The Biergarten at Olbrich Park
The Buckingham Inn
The Edgewater *
The Livingston Inn
Timpano Group LLC
Tota Vita Financial Associates *
Town of Westport
Trei-Four Aces LLC
TruStage *
Tully’s II Food & Spirits
UW Health, UnityPoint Health – Meriter & Quartz *
Village of McFarland
Village of Waunakee
Village of Windsor
Virent *
von Briesen & Roper, s.c. *
von Rutenberg Ventures
Walden Bay Single Family Condo Association
Waunakee Rotary Club
Weed Man Lawn Care – E3 Group *
West Town Monona Tire
Western Container Corporation
William Thomas Jewelers *
Wisconsin Alumni Association / Alumni Park *
Wisconsin Corn Growers Association
Wisconsin Distributors (WDI LLC) *
Wisconsin Environmental Initiative
Wisconsin Evans Scholars
Wisconsin Memorial Union *
Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance, Ltd
Woodman’s Food Market *
Yahara Lakes Association
ZEBRADOG
Zing Collaborative

2023 Lake Partners (click to open)

2023 Lake Partners (January 1st – December 31st, 2023) Lake Partners who donate at the $1,000 level or more are also recognized as part of the “Yahara Society” (denoted with asterisks below).

A+ Heler’s Dry Ice & C02 LLC
ABSTRACT Commercial Real Estate LLC
Accord Realty of Madison
ActionCOACH Business & Executive Coaching of Madison
Affiliated Engineers Inc.*
Aldevron Madison
Alison S Lebwohl Consulting
Alliant Energy Corporation*
Alpha Gamma Rho Educational Foundation
American Family Insurance – Josh Erickson Agency LLC
American Risk Management Resources
American Transmission Company*
Anonymous Foundation *
Anonymous Foundation *
ARA Leisure Services
Architectural Building Arts*
Argent Capital Inc.
Associated Dentists
Associated Housewrights
Atlas Counseling LLC
Baker Tilly US *
barre3 Madison*
Barr’s Resort
Beeline Electric *
Best Western Premier Park Hotel
Bishops Bay Country Club
Blain’s Farm & Fleet of Madison*
Blind Shot Social Club
Boneyard Productions
Bowl-A-Vard Lanes
Buck & Honey’s – Monona
Bugg Tree Care
Burnard Pressure Washing LLC
Buttonwood Partners Inc.
Buye Law Office LLC*
Camp Randall Rowing Club
Capital Area Regional Planning Commission (CARPC)
Capital City Chapter of Muskies Inc.
Capitol Neighborhoods Inc.
Capitol Water Trails LTD
Carrington Lawn & Landscape
Certco Inc.
CG Schmidt*
Cha Cha Beauty & Barber
Chads Design Build
Chas Martin Team – Sprinkman Real Estate*
Cherokee Park Inc. DBA TPC Wisconsin
Christy’s Landing
City of Madison*
City of Monona
Clasen Quality Chocolate
Corner Stone Construction of Janesville Inc.
CPU Solutions Inc.
Cresa Madison*
Crown Point Resort
Crystal Cleaners Inc *
Culver’s of Madison – Cottage Grove Rd.
Custer-Burish Financial Services *
D.L. Anderson Marine Contractors
Dane Buy Local Inc.
Dane County Conservation League
Dane Manufacturing
Deconstruction Inc.
Delta Beer Lab
Destination Madison
Dixon Shoreline/Landscaping
Don’s Marine LLC
DORN True Value Hardware
Downtown Madison Inc.
Dream House Dream Kitchens*
Ecco Salon *
ecomaids of Madison-Sun Prairie-Verona
EcoWash Pressure Washing LLC
Edgewood Campus School
Edinger Surgical Options
Exact Sciences Corp *
EZ Office Products
FarWell Project Advisors LLC*
FCS Partners LLC
Fields Auto Group Madison*
Fiore Companies*
Fire Light Group
First Weber Inc.*
Foley & Lardner LLP*
Fontana Sports
Forever Home Real Estate
Formecology LLC
Foundry Spiritual Center
Four Lakes Traditional Music Collective
Four Lakes Yacht Club
Fraboni’s Italian Specialties & Delicatessen
Friends of Cherokee Marsh
Friends of Lake Kegonsa Society (FOLKS)*
Friends of Lake Wingra
Friends of Olin Turville (F.O.O.T)
Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy
Friends of Starkweather Creek
Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve
Girl Scout Troop #8060
Goodman’s Jewelers Inc.
Goodwin Recruiting
GRAEF
gThankYou LLC
Hammel, Green and Abrahamson Inc. *
Hart DeNoble Builders Inc.
Heartland Credit Union
Henry Farms LLC
Henry Farms Prairie Spirits LLC
Highway 51 Liquor and Bait
Holy Wisdom Monastery
Honeybee Cannabis Company *
Hovde Properties LLC *
Hy Cite Enterprises LLC *
Hydrite Chemical Co.*
Ideal Builders Inc.
Illumina Inc. *
In Business Magazine
Interiors By B
Interspond, LLC
Isthmus Community Media
Isthmus Partners LLC
JD Hellenbrand Piers and Lifts
JD McCormick Properties*
Jensen Ecology LLC
Joan Collins Publicity Inc.
John Marshall, CPA
Johnson Financial Group*
Josh Lavik & Associates
JT Klein Company Inc.
KennedyC
KEVA Sports Center*
Kim Straka & Krista Potter Realty Team – First Weber
Klaas Financial Asset Advisors LLC
Kollath CPA
Kothe Real Estate Partners*
Kwik Kill Pest Control Inc.
Lake Edge Apartments
Lake Effect HR & Law LLC*
Lake Monona Sailing Club
Lake Ridge Bank *
Lake Waubesa Conservation Association
Lakeshore Apartments*
Lakeview Veterinary Clinic
Lands’ End*
Lombardino’s Restaurant
M3 Insurance
Mad-City Ski Team
Mader Designs
Madison Area Antique & Classic Boat Society – Glacier Lakes
Madison Boats LLC*
Madison Dentistry
Madison Gas and Electric*
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Madison Monona Lioness Lions Club
Madison No Fear Dentistry
Madison Optical Center
Madison Pavement Maintenance*
Madison School and Community Recreation (MSCR)
Madison Veterinary Specialists S.C.*
Madison Water Utility
Madison West Middleton Rotary Foundation Inc.*
Marten Building & Design
MaSa Partners *
Mazanet Marina
MCV Salon
Meister’s K&M Tree and Landscaping Inc.
Mendota Rowing Club
Mendota Yacht Club
Merrill Lynch
Middleton Boat House
Middleton Farmers Cooperative
Midnight Splash – Houseboat Charter
Midwest Solar Power
Modern Woodman Fraternal Financial
Monona Grove Business Men’s Associations
Monona Lakeview Apartments
Monona Motors LLC
Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center
Monona United Methodist Church
Moran Aviation LLC
Moren Investments LLC
Murphy Desmond S.C. *
Musky Fool
National Guardian Life Insurance Company*
Nelnet Inc.
Oak Park Dental*
Off Broadway Drafthouse
OpenHomes Realty
P&M Sewer and Water
Paragon Place Communities
Park Towne Development Corp
Parma Properties LLC
Patrick Properties
Perkins Coie LLP*
Pharo Marine*
Phoebe R. and John D. Lewis Foundation*
Piston MFG Advertising & Marketing
Planet Propaganda
Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation*
Premier Cooperative
Premier Retirement Partners*
PRL Keystone Foundation Inc *
ProLift Garage Doors of Madison
Pure Strategies
Purple Cow Organics
Quam’s Marine & Motor Sports
Restaino & Associates Realtors Relocation
ResTech Services
Reynolds Transfer & Storage Inc.
Robert B Downing Land Architect LLC
Robertson Cosmetic Center
Rock Realty
Sand County Foundation Inc.
Sentinus Wealth
Shive-Hattery Inc.
Silt Sock Inc.
Singlewire Software
SkipperBud’s
Slow Roll Cycles
Springers of Lake Kegonsa
Sprinkman Real Estate*
Stafford Rosenbaum LLP
Stantec Consulting
Stark Company Realtors*
Starkweather Brewing Company
State Line Distillery
Strand Associates Inc.*
Studio 88
Sub-Zero Wolf Foundation*
Summers Christmas Tree Farm
Summit Credit Union *
Sun Valley Christmas Trees LLC
Sunset Garden Club
Surly Brewing Co.
Susi Haviland Homes LLC*
Sutton Homes
SVA Certified Public Accountants
Sweeney’s Aquatic Weed Removal LLC
T. Wall Enterprises LLC
TDS Custom Construction Inc.
Teel Plastics
The Biergarten at Olbrich Park
The Boneyard
The Buckingham Inn
The Creative Company Inc.
The Edgewater*
The Livingston Inn
The Madison Club *
The Storage Guy LLC *
The Transformation Center
Tipsy Cow
Tota Vita Financial Associates*
Town of Westport
Tree Health Management LLC
Trei-Four Aces LLC
TruStage*
Tully’s II Food & Spirits
Tulric Condo Association
Unisource Direct
UW Health*
Village of McFarland
Village of Waunakee
Village of Windsor
Virent*
von Briesen & Roper, s.c.*
von Rutenberg Ventures
Walden Bay Single Family Condo Association
Waunakee Rotary Club
Waunona Garden Club
Wealth Enhancement Group – Colleen Johnson
Weed Man Lawn Care – E3 Group*
West Town Monona Tire
Western Container Corporation
WIA Insurance
Wickcraft Boardwalks
William Thomas Jewelers*
Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center
Wisconsin Alumni Association*
Wisconsin Corn Growers Association
Wisconsin Distributors *
Wisconsin Environmental Initiative
Wisconsin Evans Scholars *
Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corp. *
Wisconsin Memorial Union*
Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance, Ltd
WKOW 27*
Woodman’s Food Market*
Yahara Lakes Association
Yahara Software LLC
ZEBRADOG
Zing Collaborative

Lake Partner

Business donation starting at $75, independent of tickets or sponsorships

Yahara Society

Annual donation of $1,000 or greater, independent of tickets or sponsorships

In Kind

Donations of goods or services to support Clean Lakes Alliance’s mission

Founding Sustaining Partner

Foley & Lardner LLP Logo
2024 Lands' End Logo

Sustaining Partners

Sustaining Partners are companies and organizations providing funding, resources, and staff support totaling greater than $25,000 annually each to sustain the work of Clean Lakes Alliance.

 

Community Partners

Community Partners are companies and organizations providing funding, resources, and staff support totaling $10,000 – $24,999 annually each to sustain the work of Clean Lakes Alliance.

 

Watershed Partners

Watershed Partners are companies and organizations providing funding, resources, and staff support totaling $5,000 – $9,999 annually each to sustain the work of Clean Lakes Alliance.

Founders

Founders donated to the Clean Lakes Festival in its first six years. They were the initial supporters of the all-volunteer organization responsible for hosting the festival. These Founders truly became the foundation for what is now Clean Lakes Alliance.

Thermo Fisher Scientific | Madison Gas & Electric | Ho-Chunk Nation | Alliant Energy Foundation | Smith & Gesteland | Wisconsin Distributors | The Burish Group of UBS Financial Services | Milios | Thompson Investment Management | The Gialamas Company

The Gialamas Company kindly provided office space for Clean Lakes Alliance’s first two years in addition to their cash donation.

Schluter Beach 20May2020

Making Progress For Our Lakes

In 2019, Clean Lakes Alliance’s work was focused on actions that increased community engagement and reduced phosphorus runoff into the lakes. Keep reading to learn more about our 2019 achievements. These actions could not have been accomplished without the dedication and support of our boards, committees, donors, volunteers, staff, partners, and the community.

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Big Swell Swim Madison Logo

Big Swell Swim Madison

Big Swell Madison
Monday, August 3rd to Monday, August 10th, 2020
Law Park and Lake Monona

Register for Big Swell Swim Madison

An update on our 2020 virtual event!

Jump into Lake Monona for Big Swell Swim Madison! Due to Covid-19 and the restrictions in Dane County, we are moving to a new format for this year’s event to limit any group gathering. Other races like IRONMAN Wisconsin have been cancelled, so this is a great way to keep training and take part in an open-water swim.

Buoys will be placed in Lake Monona near Law Park Monday, August 3rd through Monday, August 10th. You have one week to swim the measured and marked course and submit your time. If you are not in the Madison area, just choose your own course and swim anywhere! This is a great training opportunity for competitive and recreational swimmers alike. Sign up to swim today!

Don’t want to swim? Grab a paddle board and stand up paddle the course!

Swim for clean lakes

When it comes to Madison’s lakes, it’s not only the fish that count on clean water for swimming. Hundreds of swimmers plunge into our lakes each year, especially as part of our vibrant triathlon scene.

Whether you are a competitive swimmer looking for a great training opportunity, or a recreational swimmer who cares about clean water, Big Swell Swim is the perfect opportunity to make a difference and help protect our lakes.

Big Swell Swim Series

Shoreline Swim is now a part of the Big Swell Swim Series! A portion of your registration will go directly to Clean Lakes Alliance. Your registration supports important lake improvement projects, educational programming, and water quality monitoring.

Big Swell Madison Distances

Choose from a 1.2 or 2.4-mile race in the same waters as Ironman Wisconsin.

Finishing Big Swell Madison

All swimmers will receive a race cap, event tee/tank, and complimentary fruit and bagels at the finish.

Waubesa Surf 'n Turf two men golfing near water

Waubesa Surf ‘n Turf Challenge

Thursday, July 9th, 2020
7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The Legend at Bergamont &
Christy’s Landing
Registration is closed at this time

Join the Waubesa Surf ‘n Turf Challenge for its 11th year on Lake Waubesa, benefitting Clean Lakes Alliance!

This exciting event combines golf at The Legend at Bergamont Golf Club and fishing on Lake Waubesa for a day of friendly competition to support work to improve and protect our lakes.

Registration

Register as an individual or team of three to join this fun lakeside tradition. Registration includes green fees, lunch, dinner, swag bag, and LIVE virtual scoring for golf and fishing competitions.

As always, your registration supports important lake improvement projects, educational programs, and water quality monitoring.

Golf & Fishing Competition

The competition includes 18 holes of golf played as a 3-man Texas scramble. All players hit all shots. A team’s fishing score will be based on total inches of legal size gamefish caught. Click here for complete golf and fishing rules.

The team’s fishing score will be deducted from their golf score. Prizes are awarded to the low gross and low net teams, with the low gross winner identified first.

Optional Big Fish Contest

Think you can reel in the biggest catch? Enter the Big Fish Contest for $10 at the beginning of the event! Cash pot awarded to EACH of the largest legal bass, walleye, pike, and muskie of the day.

Schedule

6:45 a.m. Check-in at Bergamont
7:30 a.m. Shotgun start
11:00 a.m. Lunch buffet at Bergamont
12:30 p.m. Fishing on Lake Waubesa
4:30 p.m. Time cut-off for fish registration
5:00 p.m. Steaks and prizes at Christy’s Landing

Sponsorships

If you would like to learn more about sponsorship opportunities, email our Development Director, Laura Strickland, at laura@cleanlakesalliance.org.

2020 Frozen Assets Thank You

Frozen Assets nets more than $1,200,000 since 2012

More than 10,000 attendees visited The Edgewater and frozen Lake Mendota over eight days this February, making 2020 our biggest Frozen Assets yet! THANK YOU to all of our sponsors, guests, volunteers, and event partners who made this year’s festival, fundraiser, and new evening events a huge success.

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