Milwaukee Water Quality Initiative: A Comprehensive Watershed Plan and an Integrated Plan in Advance of the Legislation and USEPA Guidance

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) initiated the 2020 Facilities Plan and jointly branded Water Quality Initiative (WQI) to determine the best (meaning best value for the money spent) investments necessary to improve water quality for the rivers, tributaries, estuarine waters, harbor area, and Lake Michigan within its planning area. With pollutants from CSOs and SSOs significantly controlled, concentration on further reductions from those sources versus investments in urban stormwater management, support of reducing nonpoint pollution sources, and restoring habitats with enhanced flood management were incorporated in a watershed approach to facilities planning. This was done well in advance of the U.S. EPA’s Integrated Planning Guidance released May 2023. Recommended actions by MMSD and partners continue to be implemented and a gradual improvement in water quality has been observed