Each year, Milwaukee Riverkeeper releases an Annual River Basin Report Card, detailing the health of the Milwaukee River Basin’s three major waterways: the Milwaukee River, the Menomonee River and the Kinnickinnic River.
In 1968, Mayor Henry Maier called the Milwaukee River “an almost dead artery.” A year later, in Cleveland, the Cuyahoga River, fouled by industrial pollution, caught fire. Even in our nation’s capital, the Potomac River was so dangerous, falling in required a tetanus shot.
The Milwaukee Boat Parade is a celebration of the rivers and waterways that run through the city of Milwaukee! It is a traditional parade, but on the water and highlights several different boating and artistic communities.
We, as a community, need to come together with our city leaders and leaders at MMSD to aggressively address this problem and devise innovative solutions to fix our old and failing infrastructure. Efforts to install more green infrastructure and practices to collect, treat, and infiltrate storm water need to be massively scaled up to make a difference.