MMSD wants to oxygenate Kinnickinnic River

Slow-moving water doesn’t hold air for fish

Fountains, air hoses, paddles or some other mechanical devices are needed to pump more oxygen into the lower Kinnickinnic River and help sustain aquatic life in the urban stream, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District officials said this week.

Low water flows in the river downstream of I-94 to Becher St. and a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water contribute to poor water quality and keep fish out.

Montgomery Associates Resources Solutions LLC would be paid up to $296,680 to conduct an aeration pilot study that would recommend a method for adding more oxygen to the water, under a proposed amendment to an existing engineering contract with the company.

Montgomery Associates of Cottage Grove also would design habitat improvements for the lower river, as part of the contract amendment.

The MMSD commission will act on the proposal at its July 24 meeting.

An $850,000 grant from the state Department of Natural Resources will pay for the Montgomery Associates work and subsequent construction of instream habitat improvements, MMSD Technical Services Director Mike Martin said. This grant would not pay for installation of the aeration devices.

The pilot aeration study and habitat improvement work must be completed by September 2018, under terms of the grant, Martin said.

Until 2008, the district had used a historic Kinnickinnic River flushing station to pour Lake Michigan water into the stream and give it a quick hit of dissolved oxygen. A tunnel beneath Bay View carried lake water to an outlet at Chase Ave.

The tunnels and pumps at S. Chase Ave. were last operated in June 2008.

A 2013 study found that the cost of needed tunnel and pumping station repairs did not justify the temporary benefits of periodic discharges of lake water to the river.