What does the microscope say
about our rivers and Lake Michigan?

By Kevin Shafer

After three years of intensive research, scientists confirm that bacteria are the biggest threats to the health of our waterways.

The sources of the bacteria will surprise and even shock some people, especially those who believe that sewer overflows are the only source of water pollution.

And tied to that scientific confirmation are the efforts of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District in drafting a blueprint for the future of our rivers and Lake Michigan. It’s a long-range planning effort focused on determining what else will be needed to protect and improve the quality of our waterways in the year 2020 and beyond.

Protecting your wallet is equally critical. That’s why we’re spending so much time analyzing the science to make sure our final plan is cost-effective and gets the best results for every penny spent.

It’s the most intensive analysis done in this region in decades.

The results of that analysis are compelling.

For instance, the largest source of bacteria entering our waterways is urban, polluted storm water, which is rainwater that runs across the land and washes pollution into our rivers and lakes. Fecal coliform bacteria getting into the Menomonee River comes from a variety of sources. One percent comes from separate-sewer overflows, 5 percent comes from rural storm-water runoff, 14 percent comes from combined-sewer overflows and 80 percent comes from urban storm-water runoff.

The analysis also reveals that sewer overflows, especially sanitary-sewer overflows, are a less significant threat to water quality when compared to
polluted, urban and rural storm water. So, to most effectively improve water quality, it will be important to incorporate any and all ways to reduce bacteria loads from urban storm water.

Science proves that sewage overflows also cause water pollution, and the MMSD is committed to its core mission of treating wastewater and reducing overflows.

We’re investing $900 million on our overflow-reduction plan. That’s on top of the $3 billion in improvements made to the regional system in the 1980s and 1990s.

We’re at a critical point in the history of this region and in our efforts to protect Lake Michigan. We’ve come a long way, but further improvements will be difficult.

They will require the attention of many levels of government, businesses, homeowners and many others. There are no quick fixes or silver bullets.

It will take many different and wide-ranging approaches. That’s why it is so important that we rely on the science to tell us where to get the best results for our money.

Any other approach could end up wasting a lot of your hard-earned money.

Think about this: What would happen to our rivers and Lake Michigan if you spend every dollar on deep tunnels, and those tunnels only help improve water quality by the 15 percent caused by sewer overflows? Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend some of that money to reduce the sources responsible for the other 85 percent of water pollution?

Common sense tells me we also should be looking at the 85 percent if we’re going to clean up our rivers and Lake Michigan.