As our utility systems age, the need for replacing infrastructure in tight spaces has greatly increased. At the same time, the general public has become less and less tolerant of the hassles associated with underground construction projects. The horizontal directional drilling (HDD) method of utility installation can help your agency overcome these challenges and potentially save money at the same time!
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.
Development drove the need for the City of Oconomowoc to provide new municipal facilities. Impact fees helped them meet the need by providing facilities, such as Fire Station No. 2, to fuel development.
Learn how Oconomowoc was able to fund facilities to attract development through working with R/M on an impact fee study.
An emerging technology in the world of storm water management is floating treatment islands which are floating mats or rafts which provide a growing medium for wetland plants.
Many communities want to grow, but water, wastewater, police, fire, parks, and libraries for new growth are costly. Impact fees fund facilities to attract development and recover the capital cost from new growth.
Green infrastructure practices, such as above and below ground cisterns, can be used to capture storm water and reuse it later.
The PSC proposes to require water utilities to annually mail rules for deposits, deferred payment agreements, budget billing, disconnection, and dispute procedures to all residential customers.
Many communities have sites that local citizens have committed to maintaining. Adopt-a-Road programs have existed for many years now, and now Adopt-a-River programs are growing in popularity as well.
A high-level understanding of your municipal utility systems is critical to allowing utility managers to understand how their systems will be impacted by changes in significant users.
It may be sunny and 80 degrees outside, but it’s the perfect time to think about snow and ice. Many training sessions will be held this fall addressing road salt and other winter road management activities.
The City of New Berlin was faced with a difficult design challenge for a 7-block section of alley in the Buena Park neighborhood. The City wanted to take advantage of a Green Solutions grant from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD). The solution was a porous asphalt pavement to provide storm water storage, filtration, and conveyance.
Excess phosphorus causes rapid formation of algal and cyanobacterial blooms, which have readily apparent impacts such as undesirable aesthetics, fish kills, and public health concerns. However, there are also less tangible economic impacts.
As municipal governments continue to move towards green infrastructure, innovative uses of existing materials become increasingly important. Additionally, the need to effectively move and treat storm water runoff becomes increasingly important. Local municipalities are recognizing the importance of these two items.
In the summer of 2016, the Village of Brown Deer contacted Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. (R/M) for assistance in developing an urban forestry project that would be strong enough to meet the application needs of the DNR's Urban Forestry Grant.
Nutrient pollution, also referred to as eutrophication, is a widespread environmental and economic issue. Excess nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen exist naturally in aquatic systems, but are detrimental if concentrations become elevated for several reasons.
Keeping track of which plastics should be recycled in a municipality can be difficult for residents. To increase participation in recycling programs, it is helpful to make the information readily available and easy to understand.
It's never too early to start thinking about grant opportunities. Whether it's a project that's been on a wish list or the back-burner; the prospect of supplemental funding can never be understated.
With the warm summer weather upon us, you are probably expecting to be getting better gas mileage for a few good reasons.
The City of Pewaukee Water & Sewer Utility has been proactive recently in upgrading several components of their Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) System. By anticipating needs in advance, several smaller projects were able to be budgeted for and sequenced out over a several year period.
In recent years, many states and local municipalities have made enormous strides in reducing carbon emissions and increasing the overall sustainability of their operations and infrastructure projects. Many sustainable construction methods, which often go unnoticed, are gaining popularity due to their lower cost and big environmental benefits.
