I hope you've gotten a chance to swim, boat, and fish in Wisconsin's beautiful 15,000 lakes this summer without worrying about yucky, green, smelly algal blooms.  This serious problem is caused by excess phosphorus that enters our lakes through agricultural and storm runoff and discharges from industry and water treatment plants.

Addressing this problem is long overdue.  As of 2010, 1,215 of Wisconsin's water bodies were listed as impaired under section 303 (d) of the Clean Water Act, many due to nutrient pollution. 

Milwaukee Riverkeeper is part of a coalition of organizations pushing to have the Chicago locks closed to prevent the spread of the invasive Asian Carp into the Great Lakes.

The carp is known to grow up to four feet long and over 100 pounds, devastating native species.

[excerpted from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

Wisconsin and four other Great Lakes states filed a lawsuit Monday against the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to force changes on the Chicago River to halt the advance of the Asian carp into Lake Michigan.

The federal suit, which also names the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a defendant, asks the court to immediately order shut two lakeside navigation locks except in emergency situations, such as big storms when the locks are opened as a safety valve to prevent flooding in the Chicago area.

Environmentalists continue opposition to water application
Coalition says Waukesha will set precedent in Great Lakes diversions

WAUKESHA – A coalition of environmentalist groups are looking to continue encouraging the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to stop its review of the city’s application to divert Lake Michigan water past the subcontinental divide through the Great Lakes Compact.

    The group is skeptical of the city’s future water supply studies and feels that some options were thrown out of the process too early. They also say that Waukesha’s application for Great Lakes water will set a precedent for other communities, meaning the coalition wants the city’s application to be perfect.

Attention remains focused on the Chicago Waterway System where fear continues that the Asian carp could be making its way through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to Lake Michigan via the Chicago and Calumet Rivers.

The first live Asian carp was found in late June in Lake Calumet. Carp can grow up to 4 feet long and over 100 pounds, devastating native fish populations.

In late June, Milwaukee Riverkeeper and other partners were guests on an Asian Carp tour of the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canals. The tour included the Lockport Lock, a promising site for ecological separation of the Great Lakes Basin from the Mississippi River system, and the electric fish barriers intended to keep the fish out of Lake Michigan (thankfully, no Asian Carp were spotted on the tour).

Historian John Gurda recently wrote an editorial memoir about the many transformations the Kinnickinnic River has taken throughout Milwaukee's history.

Most recently, MMSD is in the process of buying up homes around the KK and plan to remove the concrete from the riverbed and begin to restore the river to a more natural state.

Gurda wrote, "Urbanization soiled it, Charles Whitnall saved it, city engineers denatured it, and now we're returning to Whitnall's vision."

The rest of the article is below: