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Feb. 16, 2007
Conservation
Groups Challenge State’s Urban Stormwater Permit
On Wednesday, Friends of
Milwaukee’s Rivers, Clean Water Action Council of Northeast
Wisconsin, and individual residents, through attorneys Midwest
Environmental Advocates, filed a lawsuit aimed at protecting urban
rivers and streams.
More
Feb. 9, 2007
MMSD should
take responsibility for tunnel leaking
By Lynn
Broaddus, PhD, MBA, Executive Director
 Earlier
this week we learned that a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge ordered
the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) to line one mile
of the deep tunnel in order to prevent future damage to the building
that houses the Boston Store. The owners of the Boston Store
understandably want assurances that their valuable commercial
building will not be further damaged by the deep tunnel. But MMSD
claims that lining the tunnel will cause massive sewage overflows
for a period of time. There’s probably no one who is happy about
this conundrum, but to place the blame on the owners of the building
is a cowardly response.
The problem caused by MMSD’s decision to not line portions of the
deep tunnel when it was constructed in the early 1990’s has had a
domino effect on our community. According to a United States
Geological Survey investigation, on most days 2.8 million gallons of
groundwater pours into the unlined portions of the deep tunnel. The
result is higher sewage treatment costs (since all of this
groundwater needs to be pumped and treated), lowered groundwater
table, and less room for sewage storage. The flip side is that if
ground water comes in, sewage undoubtedly leaks out, but that’s a
whole other problem.
The Boston Store is not the only commercial building downtown that
has been damaged by the deep tunnel - it’s just the most visible. In
the judge’s ruling, passing reference is made to the harm that
others have suffered or will suffer in the future if the lining is
not put in place. As a public agency, MMSD should be subject to
public scrutiny and should operate in a transparent manner. But it’s
hard for the public to scrutinize what it does not know.
MMSD needs to help us, the taxpayers and citizens, understand this
issue better by sharing with us an unadulterated summary of deep
tunnel pros and cons. We hear the pros all the time – how many
gallons of sewage that haven’t been dumped. But we need to hear the
other part of the equation as well. How many buildings have been
damaged, how much has been spent in settlement payouts, how much has
been spent on attorneys (both in-house and outside counsel), and how
much do we spend pumping and treating groundwater?
What’s done is done. The deep tunnel was not fully lined, and now
reparations need to be made. But MMSD can help us all by accepting
responsibility, and finding the best way possible to fix the
situation. No one ever said it was going to be easy, but it’s time.
Journal
Sentinel article
Full transcript of Judge
DiMotto’s ruling [1 MB]
USGS report on the
deep tunnel [2 MB]
Wisconsin Court of Appeals
decision on Lesaffre Yeast Co (Redstar Yeast) v. MMSD
Feb. 7, 2007
Base flood
elevations to be modified
FEMA is modifying the base flood
elevations (BFEs) for several communities in the Milwaukee River
Basin. The BFE identifies an elevation at which there is a 1%
chance of flooding.
Most of these changes are minor
modifications to the existing flood level elevations. These
BFEs form the basis for floodplain management measures that
communities are required to adopt. The changes in BFEs could
mean that some homeowners will now be required to purchase flood
insurance.
More information on the affected areas
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