Waukesha has bad water problems. It’s likely that they will
soon be using Lake Michigan water. But now we learn that the city has unilaterally decided to
send its wastewater—treated, whatever that means—back to the mother lake through
Underwood Creek. Which happens to run practically through my back yard.You can read about it here.
Now, Underwood Creek is not a pristine tributary. When we moved here 17 years ago, there were crawfish in the concrete-lined creek, but they’ve been gone a long time. It smells bad sometimes in summer, and I’m
glad my house is high enough to rise above the stench.
It’s hard to imagine that adding wastewater could improve
that situation.
And it’s hard to imagine what impact the additional water
might have on the not-yet-completed Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District
project that created Swan Lake, aka the retention basins, on the County Grounds.
That plan calls for some sort of “floodwater diversions structure” plus an
underground tunnel plus a spillway structure to move the water around and back
from creek to basin to Menomonee River and back again. It’s too complicated for
me to figure out.
I asked Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Darryl Enriquez,
who wrote the article, who’s covered water issues for some time, and who’s a
good friend of mine, about this.
What's with the Underwood Creek thing? And how does it link
to the MMSD retention ponds project? Was this always the plan? And why would I
want even treated sewage running past my house? Where do I find more?
Yes,
your Underwood Creek might receive a wealth of treated wastewater courtesy of
Waukesha. The added flow should improve the quality of the creek by increasing
its (waste) water level. It’s not supposed to be a real deep flow.
Darryl!!! How does waste water improve the quality of the
creek? You mean it's better quality than the runoff and storm stuff that's
there now? And what does the stuff smell like? It sounds bad.
I
know that it’s a hard concept to understand, but the main benefit is that
wastewater will be a new source for the creek that currently has very low flow
and cannot support much aquatic life. I’ve heard that Racine County
conservationists would welcome the wastewater for the Root River because it
would help the annual salmon run from Lake Michigan. My concern is that if
Waukesha stops dumping wastewater into the Fox River, because it’s forced to
send it east, what effect would it have on an important natural resource for
central Waukesha County? About 70% of the Fox River flow is generated from
wastewater from Brookfield, Sussex and Waukesha. Don’t forget, it’s not
untreated sewage. It’s treated to state standards and is probably better than
the fertilizer and road-dirt polluted storm water that’s in there now.
I love Darryl, but I’m not satisfied yet. Somebody has some more 'splainin' to do.
And I’m wondering why I’m not hearing about it here. Any Tosa folks involved in the planning? Does the
Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust have an action
team for plans that affect Wauwatosa? Do we need to form one?
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