Major cause of toxic algae, water pollution targeted
MADISON – Proposals to further reduce runoff pollution are the topic of public hearings statewide in late January and February. The updates are aimed at reducing toxic blue green algae blooms, fish kills, contaminated wells and other problems fueled by pollutants running off urban areas and farm fields and entering Wisconsin lakes, rivers and groundwater.
"Runoff continues to pollute Wisconsin's lakes, rivers and groundwater, threatening public health, recreation and our quality of life," says Gordon Stevenson, who leads the Department of Natural Resources runoff management program. "Everybody needs to do their part – developers, municipalities and farmers – if we are to tackle blue-green algae problems, avoid well contamination, and prevent fish kills."
The DNR is proposing to revise runoff rules passed in 2002 to reduce water runoff from urban areas, construction sites and farms and to update two grant programs that help pay for those controls. The rules are Natural Resources Chapters 151, 153 and 155 of the Wis. Adm. Code.
Stevenson says the proposed changes seek to reduce soil and the pollutants attached to it, particularly phosphorus, from agriculture and urban sources and also to fairly balance controlling runoff, also called "nonpoint source pollution," between urban and agricultural sources.
Phosphorus is one of the top reasons why 700 lakes and river segments are proposed to be included on Wisconsin's 2010 Impaired Waters List and nationwide has landed thousands of lakes and rivers on the nation's impaired waters list.
A national panel of experts convened by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in August 2009 issued a report calling nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen "a growing environmental crisis" not just for fish and aquatic life, but also for drinking water supplies. The report, "An Urgent Call to Action" identified nutrient-related problems, their sources, and recommendations for solutions.
Please find a listing of public hearing dates and locations online here at WDNR