Milwaukee River Clean-Up Falls Two Years Behind Schedule

October 13, 2014- A plan for municipalities and some businesses to make potentially expensive reductions in water pollution in the Milwaukee River basin is two years behind schedule.

Once a plan has been finalized, communities and businesses with wastewater and storm-water permits are likely to face new, stiffer limits from state regulators on how much pollution can be released into the 900-square-mile watershed, even though the outcomes of such limits in other parts of the country often have not been successful.

Farms also are expected to make reductions, and residents will be asked to do more — everything from raking leaves out of gutters to installing rain barrels to reduce runoff. Pollutants that wash off the land in rural and urban areas, flow into streams and rivers and eventually empty into Lake Michigan.

Water quality in the greater Milwaukee basin is generally improving. But despite $5 billion in government spending since 1980, problems persist. Parts of the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers violate state water quality standards. The Clean Water Act mandates that states ratchet down pollution when this happens.

Read the full jsonline.com post here.

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