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Storm Water
We know that providing your residents with quality public resources, safe roads, and clean water is essential to creating a thriving community. We also know that locating the funds necessary to make improvements to local infrastructure can be incredibly difficult. This year, consider these financing opportunities to help you maintain, improve, and grow your community resources.
Beaver Creek is a tributary to the Milwaukee River running through the heart of the Village of Brown Deer. Recently, the Village partnered with R/M to transform a struggling eight-foot-wide channel of the creek, and its adjacent multi-use pedestrian trail, into a thriving community corridor.
In March 2018, the Milwaukee River Basin TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) was updated to include specified limits for bacteria. The TMDL states that 90% of fecal pollution found in the river basin is attributed to a combination of rural and urban runoff from unknown sources. These pollutants enter the storm sewer system and flow untreated toward local streams, lakes, and wetlands, posing an ongoing threat to the overall health of our communities. Learn how R/M can help your community minimize the impact of bacteria in your waterways.
Much of the Midwest is experiencing a significant amount of rain this Fall, and the potential for flooding in your community may be high. If your staff is carrying a heavy workload, R/M available to assist. Learn how R/M can function as an extension of your team to help during periods with significant rain events.
The state of Wisconsin has experienced a record-breaking amount of precipitation over the last decade, resulting in billions of dollars in flood damage to homes, businesses, and public infrastructure. Fortunately, there are resources available and steps you can take to prepare for increasingly severe weather and minimize your municipality’s risk of flood damage.
The amount and type of precipitation we experience on a daily or yearly basis can dramatically impact our lives and communities, and the consensus among experts is that the distribution of the world’s rainfall is shifting as our climate changes. Keep reading to learn how your community can prepare for changing precipitation.
Proper maintenance of storm water BMPs is necessary to ensure that these systems function properly and continue to protect our communities’ lakes, streams, and drinking water. Keep reading for helpful tips on how to preserve the life and effectiveness of your storm water BMPs.
The Wisconsin DNR Urban Nonpoint Source & Storm Water Management (UNPS) Planning Grant Program applications are now available on the WDNR website and are due mid-April of 2019 for the 2020-2021 grant period. Read on to learn how UNPS Grants can help your municipality with your storm water management plan.
Dog parks are a great addition to many community park systems, however, high traffic and repeat visits can add up to a lot of dogs and related doggy deposits at these sites. E. coli and high nutrient levels associated with accumulations of pet waste can be mobilized into local lakes, streams, and wetlands during snow melt and rain events.
Urban trees are showing more promise from a storm water perspective than ever before. Trees absorb water from soil and transpire it to the atmosphere, reducing the amount of rainwater that flows untreated into storm sewers and ultimately to local lakes and rivers.
While storm water ponds can be aesthetically pleasing and a community recreation feature, they are actually engineered devices with two main functions. First, they prevent flooding by capturing runoff and flow from local storm water pipes, swales, and drainage ditches. Second, they provide water quality treatment by settling out excess sediment and nutrients from storm water that flows to the pond.
As the City of Kenosha embarked on a comprehensive analysis of their storm water infrastructure from both flood control and water quality perspectives, the City was hit with back-to-back intense rainfall events in July of 2017 that resulted in significant local and regional flooding. The immediate public health and safety concerns tied to this flooding event doubled down the City’s efforts to simultaneously develop a long-term plan for the future, while also quickly addressing some of the most pressing concerns.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is now accepting grant applications for construction of storm water treatment practices through the Urban Nonpoint Source and Storm Water Grant Program. This is a valuable funding program that helps offset the cost of meeting MS4 Permit requirements and protecting local lakes, streams, and wetlands in Wisconsin.
MS4. TMDL. NPDES. These acronyms (and many more) can sometimes make complying with municipal storm water regulations seem like an exercise in alphabet soup more than anything else. A variety of recent advances in ways of thinking and technology can simplify regulatory compliance.
In addition to doing illicit discharge inspections during dry weather, monitoring storm sewer outfalls during snow melt and rain events can reveal pollutants that accumulate and mobilize only when storm water flows through the system.
Storm water controls are necessary to prevent flooding, protect property, and to protect local lakes and streams. Unfortunately, effective storm water controls are often very costly. Maintenance to ensure these features keep working means additional costs that are added on each year.
The City of Oconomowoc, with assistance from R/M, constructed joint parking lots with vegetated parking lot islands to allow storm water to flow across the lot and into bioretention areas.
Per the National Weather Service, April 2017 was the ninth wettest April on record for the Chicagoland area. This much rain will always reveal urban flooding issues that face our municipalities, but it's not just major flooding events that are an issue. As the economy rebounds, many communities are experiencing significant increases in redevelopment activity. L
"Storm Water" often refers to water quality impacts from rain or snow melt, but not necessarily quantity or flooding issues. But it's not so easy to separate the quality from quantity issues from a practical, on-the-ground perspective.
Storm water ponds can be designed and maintained as positive features in a neighborhood or business park. Consider these tips for maintaining these water quality features as natural ponds to enhance habitat and provide viewing opportunities for bicyclists, walkers, and residents.
