Posted: 01.12.2010

Proposals to further reduce runoff pollution are the topic of public hearings statewide in late January and February. The updates are aimed at reducing toxic blue green algae blooms, fish kills, contaminated wells and other problems fueled by pollutants running off urban areas and farm fields and entering Wisconsin lakes, rivers and groundwater.

“Runoff continues to pollute Wisconsin’s lakes, rivers and groundwater, threatening public health, recreation and our quality of life,” says Gordon Stevenson, who leads the Department of Natural Resources runoff management program. “Everybody needs to do their part – developers, municipalities and farmers – if we are to tackle blue-green algae problems, avoid well contamination, and prevent fish kills.”

The DNR is proposing to revise runoff rules passed in 2002 to reduce water runoff from urban areas, construction sites and farms and to update two grant programs that help pay for those controls. The rules are Natural Resources Chapters 151, 153 and 155 of the Wis. Adm. Code.

Stevenson says the proposed changes seek to reduce soil and the pollutants attached to it, particularly phosphorus, from agriculture and urban sources and also to fairly balance controlling runoff, also called “nonpoint source pollution,” between urban and agricultural sources.

Phosphorus is one of the top reasons why 700 lakes and river segments are proposed to be included on Wisconsin’s 2010 Impaired Waters List and nationwide has landed thousands of lakes and rivers on the nation’s impaired waters list.

A national panel of experts convened by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in August 2009 issued a report calling nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen “a growing environmental crisis” not just for fish and aquatic life, but also for drinking water supplies. The report, “An Urgent Call to Action” [PDF exit DNR] identified nutrient-related problems, their sources, and recommendations for solutions.

Proposed revisions affecting agriculture

Major provisions of the proposed rule changes seek to reduce the potential of croplands, pastures and winter grazing areas that contribute phosphorus to Wisconsin's lakes, rivers and groundwater.

Farmers would have to meet a maximum average level of phosphorus allowed to come off their fields, with that average calculated over an 8-year period. DNR estimates that 80 percent of farmers will meet the average with little or no change in their practices.

There also would be a cap on how much phosphorus can come off their field in any individual year to prevent catastrophic runoff events. And farmers in watersheds where an impaired lake or river has an approved cleanup plan may be required to meet more stringent standards.

Other proposals affecting farmers would prohibit them from plowing within 20 feet next to lakes and streams to keep stream banks stable and less vulnerable to erosion.

Proposed revisions affecting developers

Since the runoff rules became effective in 2002, the number of construction sites subject to them has increased dramatically as EPA dropped the size of sites regulated for stormwater from 5 acres to 1 acre.

DNR proposes stronger requirements for what developers must do after construction is finished to keep water from running off. The changes would encourage efforts to let the water soak in and stay on the site instead of running off the land or paved areas as stormwater.

Proposed revisions affecting municipalities

Proposed revisions to runoff rules that municipalities must meet would let some of them have more time to meet a 2013 deadline to reduce by 40 percent the pollutants carried in their stormwater. Municipalities asked for more time, saying the economic recession made it difficult for them to make the needed investments or to ask their ratepayers to absorb higher fees. Stevenson says that DNR agreed to let municipalities have more time if DNR determines they have made good faith efforts to meet the deadline. About 75 percent of municipalities met an earlier deadline for a 20 percent reduction.

A listing of public hearing dates and locations is below; more information about the proposed changes can be found online.

Each hearing will begin with a 1-hour informational session followed by formal testimony. The hearings will all begin at 1 p.m. on:

• Jan. 25, Appleton, Outagamie County Highway Department, Highway Shop Conference Room, 1313 Holland Rd.
• Jan. 28, Eau Claire, Best Western Trail Lodge, 3340 Mondovi Rd, Room: Chippewa #1.
• Feb. 2, Waukesha, State Office Bldg., 141 NW Barstow St., Room 151.
• Feb. 10, Madison, Lyman F. Anderson Agricultural and Conservation Center, 1 Fen Oak Court, Classrooms A & B (1st floor)
• Feb. 11, Wausau, Rib Mountain Municipal Center, 3700 N. Mountain Road (HWY NN).
• Feb. 25, Platteville, University North Room, Pioneer Student Center, UW Platteville, One University Plaza.

Written comments on the proposed rules may be submitted until March 12, 2010, via U.S. mail to Carol Holden, DNR – WT/3, PO Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921 or by e-mail to carol.holden@wisconsin.gov. Written comments will have the same weight and effect as oral statements presented at the public hearings. More information or a copy of the proposed rules and supporting documents, including the fiscal estimate, may be found on the Nonpoint Source Program Administrative Rules page of the DNR Web site (click on the proposed rules tab).

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