Thanks to the support of donors like you, Clean Lakes Alliance is able to contribute $100,000 per year to fund phosphorus reduction practices through watershed adaptive management. Learn more about how this cooperative approach is helping our community meet its water quality goals.
Message from the Alliance
Partners divert 13,600 pounds of phosphorus from our lakes in 2016
Message from Clean Lakes Alliance for the 2016 State of the Lakes Annual Report
Seven years ago, our community came together and formed an alliance to improve the health of our lakes. Together, we are reigniting a movement to revitalize our lakes and beaches. Driving the movement is a vision in which the lakes are the center of our community.
Today, citizens, businesses, government agencies, scientists, policymakers, and farmers are working as one to advance new and common-sense solutions. Just look at what we’ve already accomplished together.
Letter in support of RES-059 (Nutrient Concentration System)
Dear Friends of Clean Lakes,
Clean Lakes Alliance is very proud of the progress our community has made towards enacting the Yahara CLEAN Strategic Action Plan for Reducing Phosphorus. Dane County has been a leader in supporting clean water since the start. Just this past year, a $12-million, county-funded initiative to remove phosphorus-laced sediment from 33 miles of Yahara streams over five years helped further our common goal of healthy lakes.
Sponsor Feature: 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.
Sponsor feature: Lands’ End
Today, we’re highlighting how Lands’ End has given back to our lakes over the years.
2016 sees clearer water on Madison’s lakes
Clean Lakes Alliance volunteer monitors see improvements and mixed results
MADISON, Wis. — Clean Lakes Alliance has released results from the 2016 monitoring season on lakes Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa and Kegonsa. Over the past three years, the volunteer-based program has grown into an extensive 70-site effort to track water conditions near the shore, where most people interact with our lakes.
Guest post: Let’s talk about the future of our waters and communities
The future of water and people depends on the choices we make today – and the ideas we share with each other.
Engage your community or organization in a conversation about what you want for the future of water and people with the Yahara 2070 discussion guides.
Keep Water Fresh: Ways to Cut Down on Salt Pollution
Emily Jones, Pollution Prevention Specialist, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Next time you’re at Camp Randall Stadium, take a look around and picture twenty 50-pound bags of water softener salt stacked on top of each of the 80,321 seats. That’s about how much salt makes its way down the drain and to Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District’s wastewater treatment plant every year.
But the salt doesn’t stop there. The treatment plant isn’t designed to remove salt, so salt passes through the plant into local streams, where it can threaten freshwater life. Removing salt at the treatment plant would be expensive and energy-intensive, so MMSD is working to protect water more efficiently by reducing the salt that goes down the drain.
Watch for Zebra Mussels in the Yahara
Zebra mussels, a native of Europe and Asia, have recently established a reproducing population in lakes Mendota and Monona. These little filter-feeding organisms can negatively impact native lake ecosystems. Although they might increase water clarity by feeding on zooplankton, green algae and other debris, zebra mussels do not eat blue-green algae. This means they can deplete the water of important fish food and natural algae grazers. Zebra mussels may also damage boat hulls and engines and cut the feet of swimmers. Zebra mussels are difficult to eradicate once established in a water body.
Clean Lakes Alliance is working with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and UW-Madison Center For Limnology to track zebra mussel population establishment and expansion in the Yahara chain of lakes and could use your help!
Keeping our Lakes Healthy is a Community Job
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.
Fun and educational stops (see information below)