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April 15, 2008
Friends of Milwaukee's
Rivers would like to thank our new members
Full list of new members from
January-March 2008
April 11, 2008
Heavy rains bring sewer
overflows
MMSD
(Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District) began dumping
sewage into local waterways last night. Heavy rains and
supersaturated soils created conditions ripe for
sanitary sewerage overflows.
The MMSD website confirms that a combined sewer overflow
was initiated last night at 6:05 PM affecting
substantial portions of the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and
Kinnickinnic Rivers.
A
separate sewer overflow occurred at Bay View Park on
Lake Michigan for 23 minutes yesterday. At 10:40 PM
yesterday there were also two unconfirmed SSO's
that
occurred in the system, also on the southside
along Lincoln Memorial Drive at Bay and Russell Streets.
These sites are being investigated, and are sites with
known conveyance problems that have experienced SSOs
previously within the last year. At 8:15 p.m. last
night, sewage blending began at the Jones Island Water
Reclamation Facility, which was treating wastewater over
its designed capacity. Blending is when partially
treated sewage (not receiving secondary treatment) is
mixed with fully treated sewage and then discharged to
surface waters. Volumes of total sewage dumped are not
yet known. To see a map of the affected rivers, please
visit
http://www.mmsd.com/news/overflow_advisory.cfm.
Many local paddlers enjoy paddling our rivers during
high flows, but we stress they take caution and not
paddle for a few days after these overflows to protect
their health. In addition, paddlers and other river
users should also monitor flow conditions, as most
rivers are currently at flood stage and running at
dangerous velocities.
For real-time flow
information, please go here (scroll down to Lake
Michigan Basin):
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/WI/nwis/current/?type=flow
MMSD
is permitted to have up to six combined sewer overflows
per year, but sanitary sewer overflows are illegal
(unless necessary to protect against loss of human life
or property). Overflows are normally caused when the
sewer system is overwhelmed by rainwater, but can also
be caused by blockages and failing infrastructure.
Separated sewer systems are designed to carry only
sewage, but many pipes are so old and defective that
massive amounts of rainwater come into the pipes and
overwhelm the sewage conveyance system.
April 11, 2008
It's that time: The 13th Annual Spring River Cleanup is only
a week away!
Register now!
Saturday, April 19th, 2008: Various
locations. Registration 8:30am, cleanup
9am-noon
Over two thousand volunteers turned out last spring to clean
the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic Rivers during FMR's 12th Annual Spring River Cleanup. Let's
beat that number this year! This time we're taking on 36 sites and
we need your help to make this the best Cleanup ever.
If you are interested in becoming a
volunteering, contact
Erin at 414.287.0207 x34 or
register here.
Be sure to keep visiting
milwaukeerivercleanup.org for updates!
April 11, 2008
Riverkeeper Watch
In the
last few weeks, the Riverkeeper has responded to the
following incidents due to timely reports by members and
friends (like you!):
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On
March 31st, a resident reported severe
erosion at Reservoir Park, which was sending a dirty
plume of water across North Avenue and down toward
the Milwaukee River. City of Milwaukee staff were
notified of the incident, and responded.
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On
March 28th, several members reported a white plume
observed from the Hoan Bridge, moving from the
Kinnickinnic River to the Milwaukee River and out to
the Lake. We responded by taking pictures and
documenting the problem, and referring to the DNR
spills hotline. DNR staff documented a discharge
(running about 20-25 gallons per minute) coming out
of a stormwater pipe adjacent to Miller Compressing.
The discharge source is still being investigated.
-
On
March 24th, a member reported an oil
sheen on the Milwaukee Avenue between the Kilbourn
and State Street bridges. The spill was reported
immediately to DNR staff, as well as City and DOT
staff managing the Kilbourn Bridge reconstruction. The source of the oil appears to be from a
contractor staging area near Edison Street, where
petroleum was spilled a few weeks back during a
theft. This release was previously reported to DNR
and the spill cleaned up; however, recent snow melt
appears to have carried in more product. Petroleum
sheens are also being observed near barges working
on the Kilbourn Bridge and associated dredging. The
contractor deployed and will maintain a sorbent boom
to contain and collect these oil sheens during the
rest of their dredging operations associated with
bridge work. This dredging may continue through
July.
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On
March 18th, several citizens reported
dumping of rock or “rip rap” near the Kilbourn
Bridge reconstruction. We followed up with DNR and
DOT staff and determined this to be a permitted
activity in association with protecting Bridge
abutments from “scour” or erosion caused by stream
flows.
Keep
those calls coming! If you see anything out of the
ordinary call us at (414) 287-0207 ext. 29 or call DNR
at (800)
TIP-WDNR |
