Monthly archive

Mequon-Thiensville Fish Passage Featured

August 27, 2009

The Mequon-Thiensville "Fish Passage" will eventually allow fish to access an additional 35 miles of the Milwaukee river, 11 more miles of the North Branch and 112 miles of tributary streams. A total of 14,000 acres of wetlands will be reconnected to the waterways and provide spawning habitat for fish.

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Update

August 25, 2009

Milwaukee Riverkeeper is part of the Healing Our Water (HOW) Great Lakes Coalition.  The group recently released its comments in response to the EPA's request for comments on the “Great Lakes Multi-Year Restoration Action Plan."

See attached documents for more details.

Register for the HOW Great Lakes Restoration Conference Today!

Miilwaukee Riverkeeper supports passage of the Clean Water Restoration Act

August 25, 2009

In fall of 2009, the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) will be introduced in the House of Representatives. Milwaukee Riverkeeper along with 25 other environmental organizations request legislative support for this important conservation bill.

See attached document to read more.

Human Bacteria Testing Featured

August 19, 2009


The incoming results of our human bacteria testing have spurred interest from the media. WauwatosaNow recently went out with Water Quality Assistant Jason Schroeder to see how the work is done and to report on the results. 

New Maps

August 19, 2009

As part of the upgrade to our website, we are now hosting interactive maps using Google Maps and Google Earth.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper Comments - "No Build" option for Zoo Interchange Reconstruction Project

August 19, 2009

Milwaukee Riverkeeper recommends that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) select the “No Build” option for the proposed Zoo Interchange Reconstruction Project.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper Ad Featured on ABCnews.com

August 11, 2009

Our friends at Stir Marketing designed this ad to help spread awareness of our vision to create swimmable, drinkable rivers.  ABC News recently featured the ad in their most creative ads campaign. 

Criticism of Study Floods in from Conservation Groups

August 10, 2009

A U.S. and Canadian study released this spring was supposed to be the final word on whether a 1960s Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in the St. Clair River helped unleash an uncontrollable erosion problem that has led to a permanent - and ongoing - water loss from Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Led by an Army Corps of Engineers employee, the study concluded that the lakes' low water for most of the past decade is only natural, and nothing needs to be done about it.

The problem is lots of people at this point aren't buying that.

City may reverse ban on launching boats

August 5, 2009

On an unseasonably warm day in March, two Wauwatosa aldermen strapped on their life jackets and launched kayaks in the Menomonee River.

As they made their way from north of Capitol Drive to Hart Park, people waved and shouted that they too wish they had a boat on the waterway.

"We saw deer and ducks and all kinds of wildlife. It was great," Alderman Brian Ewerdt said.

Storm Sewers Oozing Human Bacteria

August 3, 2009

Human sewage is flowing out of municipal storm sewers and into local waterways and Lake Michigan on rainy days without sanitary sewer overflows to blame for the load, and even during periods of dry weather, a three-year study has concluded.

And the contamination cannot be pinned on raccoons or other animals living in the storm sewers. Genetic testing ruled them out.

Human fecal pollution is found at several beaches and rivers throughout the Milwaukee area, creating an unseen though serious public health risk for anyone in the water, said Sandra McLellan, associate scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Great Lakes WATER Institute and the study's lead researcher.