Restoration projects to have ‘huge impact’
Over the last 50 years, strides have been made to restore the Great Lakes, but the legacy of pollution still haunts us
Strides have been made to restore the Great Lakes over the last 50 years, but the legacy of unbridled pollution still haunts the basin.
One such place is the Milwaukee River Estuary, where the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet before heading into Lake Michigan.
Troubled by polluted sediment, poor water quality and habitat loss, the estuary is designated as an “area of concern” – one of the most degraded places in the entire Great Lakes region.
Projects underway to remove contaminated sediment and restore habitat could change that.
The work “is going to have a huge impact on the landscape of Milwaukee,” said Shalina Ali, who sits on an advisory committee for the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern.
Here’s what you should know about the Great Lakes areas of concern and the work that’s happening specifically in Milwaukee’s three rivers:
The U.S. Great Lakes have 25 areas of concern
“It’s a real generational opportunity to clean up a lot of historic contamination from our rivers and the lake.”
Cheryl Nenn of Milwaukee Riverkeeper and a part of the community advisory committee that oversees projects for the area of concern
After more than a century of abuse from industry and farm runoff, the U.S. and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972, which set the path to restore and protect the lakes, the largest fresh surface water system on earth. An update in 1987 identified 43 areas of concern throughout the entire basin in both countries.
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which launched in 2010, helped fast-track these cleanup efforts. The U.S. federal program has already provided more than $700 million to clean up these problematic sites. And last year the bipartisan infrastructure law from the federal government gave a billion-dollar boost to the program to speed up the restoration of 22 of the remaining 25 areas of concern in the U.S. by 2030.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and other state and federal agencies are tasked with cleaning up those sites. When monitoring efforts show that all of the restoration targets in an area are met, the EPA will delist it.
Since the inception of the water quality agreement, six sites have been cleaned up and are now delisted on the U.S. side of the basin.
The most recent sites include Ohio’s Ashtabula River which drains into Lake Erie, and Wisconsin’s Lower Menominee River flowing into Lake Michigan.
Milwaukee Estuary is one of four areas of concern in Wisconsin
The Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern includes the lower reaches of the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers.
It’s one of four areas of concern in Wisconsin. The others are: the Lower Green Bay and Fox River, which flow into Lake Michigan; the Sheboygan River, which also flows into Lake Michigan; and the St. Louis River, which flows into Lake Superior.
Areas of concern are defined by what is known as their “beneficial use impairments” – or symptoms of pollution.
There are 14 total beneficial impairments found throughout the basin, such as restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, beach closings and added costs to agriculture.
The Milwaukee River Estuary alone has 11 impairments.
The impairments are largely due to sediments contaminated with PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, which were banned by the federal government in 1979.
Other contaminants include heavy metals and PAHs, or polycyclic aromatic
The Milwaukee River flows over the Kletzsch Park dam in Glendale.
PHOTOS BY MIKE DE SISTI / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
hydrocarbons, which come from coal tar-based sealants applied to asphalt driveways and parking lots. Some local governments around the state have banned the use of sealants.
What is being done?
While contaminants, like PCBs, have been banned for decades, they’ve stuck around and accumulated in the three rivers and Lake Michigan’s nearshore waters, said Cheryl Nenn of Milwaukee Riverkeeper, who also is a part of the community advisory committee that oversees projects for the area of concern.
They’ve caused a lot of problems for fish and other aquatic life in the meantime. So, the main priority is to remove this sediment so that the rivers can be enjoyed by the community.
Sediment-containing pollutants like PCBs can’t be treated, Nenn said, they can only be physically removed and permanently stored in a facility.
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is leading a project to create a new facility in the Milwaukee Harbor to safely contain nearly two million cubic yards of sediment.
“It’s a real generational opportunity to clean up a lot of historic contamination from our rivers and the lake,” Nenn said.
Another priority is cleaning up the waterways for recreation, as well as improving habitats for fish and wildlife.
These habitat projects are essential to cleaning up the area’s waterways, said Beth Wentzel, a senior project manager at the sewerage district.
One way they are helping fish populations is by improving passage and connectivity in rivers and streams so that fish and other aquatic species can swim upriver to find food, reproduce and establish their populations.
The Kletzsch Dam is the largest remaining barrier on the Milwaukee River. A project will start this summer to create a channel that goes around the dam, so fish such as northern pike and lake sturgeon can swim upriver. The sewerage district is also designing another passage to help fish swim around Estabrook Falls along the Milwaukee River.
When the two projects are complete there will be more than 30 miles of continuous waterway for fish to travel, Wentzel said.
Milwaukee’s approach can directly affect disadvantaged communities
A unique part of the Milwaukee projects is an advisory committee that ensures Milwaukee residents are informed about the projects and play an active role in decision-making.
Environmental issues often mirror larger issues within the community, said Ali.
“We are a city and a state that attracts people who have the means to participate in a lot of recreation centered around water,” she said. “But we have a lot of local communities who are without those means.”
Water pollution has a disproportionate effect on disadvantaged communities and communities of color, Nenn said. For instance, some more affluent communities who fish recreationally in the area often practice catch and release, she said. However, there are some at-risk communities who fish for food, and are likely eating more than the recommended limits and exposed to more pollution, she said.
Cleaning up the waterways and making the fish safer to eat can have a significant impact.
In addition, many low-income and communities of color don’t have the same access to air conditioning and go to the beaches to cool off on hot days, Nenn said. Cleaning up water at nearby beaches and increasing the number of days they are open will benefit everyone, she said.
Caitlin Looby is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and the Great Lakes. Reach her at clooby@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @caitlooby. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to this reporting effort at jsonline.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.