Clean Water News

As the new home of WISPIRG's environmental work, Wisconsin Environment can be contacted with any questions regarding this report.  

MADISON—Four years after the passage of the nation’s strongest stormwater regulations, runoff from construction sites in Wisconsin continues to pose a serious threat to the health of Wisconsin’s waters, according to a new report released today by the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) and American Rivers.

“We have the tools to reduce runoff pollution from development,” said Bruce Speight, WISPIRG Field Director. “But, we’re not really using them.”

The report, Protecting Wisconsin’s Waters: Better Oversight of Development is Necessary to Prevent Runoff Pollution, finds that weak enforcement practices at the Department of Commerce (which oversees commercial construction sites) allow developers to skip required runoff prevention measures.

“Construction sites can operate in ways that reduce stormwater runoff and protects Wisconsin’s rivers,” said Gary Belan, Associate Director of American Rivers’ Healthy Waters campaign. “Unfortunately, this isn’t happening consistently in Wisconsin.”

These weak enforcement practices will have serious consequences for water quality in areas of the state that are expected to grow and develop rapidly, such as Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay and central and western communities like Plover, Onalaska and Eau Claire. If development continues at even half the pace as in the past, the amount of built-up land in Wisconsin could increase by about 12 percent by 2020, a construction site one and a half times the size of Milwaukee county.

Commerce has recently updated its rule to improve management of stormwater at commercial construction sites. Nonetheless, the proposed rules do not require sufficient information from developers for project review, allow only 7 days to object to an application before permit coverage is automatically granted, and propose an inadequate $25 fee to fund the program.

"The new rule underscores the disregard the Department of Commerce has for their responsibility to protect waterways," says Lori Grant of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. "The application process and ridiculously short turn-around is tantamount to a rubber stamp for new development."

In addition, Commerce has fewer enforcement tools than the Department of Natural Resources to ensure compliance with the law, and it has failed to refer a single violation to the Department of Justice since it began monitoring commercial construction sites in 1994.

Wisconsin ’s 2002 runoff prevention law requires builders to reduce sediment runoff both during and after construction by 80 percent at sites of one acre or larger. Yet, a DNR official has estimated 100 percent non-compliance in at least one region of the state. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a construction site of one acre can release between 20 and 150 tons of sediment per year.

To prevent future growth from exacerbating runoff pollution, Wisconsin’s government must improve oversight of development projects. With the start of the 2007-2008 legislative session, WISPIRG urges state leaders to consolidate stormwater regulation within the Department of Natural Resources, require developers to supply comprehensive and detailed information about their construction plans equivalent to DNR procedure, and increase permit fees to ensure adequate funding and staff to review applications, inspect sites and address violations.

“A law is only as good as the funding and commitment behind it,” said Brent Denzin, attorney at Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc. “We need developers to provide the information and financing needed to keep the pollution on their site and out of our waters. We need a funded and active DNR assuring the public that we are not paying to clean of someone else’s mess.”

“The legislature can not let these standards slide away with the runoff that is contaminating our waters,” continued Speight. “The legislature needs to take action to make sure that the implementation of Wisconsin’s landmark 2002 runoff rules remains true to the goal of protecting our waterways from runoff.”

Runoff is a dominant source of water pollution in over two-thirds of impaired river sections in the state and over 50 percent of impaired lakes, according to a 2006 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) assessment. Runoff increases the variability of stream flow, eroding stream banks, impairing wildlife habitat, polluting drinking water, and contributing to flooding and sewer overflows.