A flotilla of kayakers and canoers paddles down the Milwaukee River towards downtown Milwaukee Thursday. Wisconsin regulators are embarking on the biggest water pollution program for the Milwaukee River basin since construction of the deep tunnel system. Credit: Sam Caravana

By of the

Wisconsin regulators are embarking on the biggest water pollution control program for the 900-square-mile greater Milwaukee River basin since construction of the deep tunnel system.

The Department of Natural Resources released preliminary figures on Thursday for reductions that Milwaukee and other communities must meet for key pollutants flowing into the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers in the coming years.

Much of the emphasis will be on polluted water that washes from the land in the form of leaves and grass, bits of debris, fertilizer, cattle manure — even pet waste.

Known as "non-point" pollution, it is Milwaukee's most serious water pollution problem, despite billions of dollars spent in recent decades on cleaning up the basin.

In essence, the draft plan puts affected communities in seven counties on a new pollution diet because sections of the rivers violate standards for acceptable water quality for recreational uses and aquatic life.

The basin includes all or parts of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Dodge, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties.

The targeted pollutants are phosphorus and total suspended solids.

Phosphorus spurs algae growth. Suspended solids are the particles in the water that can make a stream or river muddy and degrade habitat.

Communities also will be expected to make reductions in a third pollutant — bacteria.

One known source — the phosphorus added to drinking water by Milwaukee Water Works and other utilities to prevent leaching in aging lead pipes — will not be targeted, the DNR says.

The new limits, known as total maximum daily loads, or TMDLs, were triggered by the federal Clean Water Act.

The 43 municipal storm water systems in the basin face different reductions, depending on conditions in each community.

Communities face a minimum cut of 14% for phosphorus and a minimum cut of 58% for total suspended solids. But for many communities, including Milwaukee, the cuts will be higher in certain waters.

For example, the Lincoln Creek watershed on the city's north side covers 12,084 acres. The draft plan calls for reductions of 64% in suspended solids and 84% in phosphorus.

Conservation practices like green projects that hold back water during heavy rains could ease the burden of required cuts in many communities, including Milwaukee, according to the DNR. Some such projects already are in place.

Farms are sources of pollution in the upper portions of the Milwaukee and Menomonee watershed. According to the draft plan, reductions in the agricultural sector are targeted at a minimum of 12% for phosphorus and a minimum of 26% for suspended solids.

But a complicating factor is reductions for most farms will be voluntary.

The DNR is seeking compliance over a 20-year period, and perhaps longer.

"It took us a long time to get to this point and it is going to take us a long time to get to the reductions," said Kevin Kirsch, a DNR water resources engineer managing the project.

The new limits are potentially expensive, and for property owners could mean higher storm water management charges. At this stage, DNR officials said they could not provide a cost estimate.

The City of Milwaukee says it needs time to study the figures.

"Right now it's too early to say if there will be any fee increases to meet the TMDLs," said Sandy Rusch Walton, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works.

Thomas M. Grisa, public works director for the City of Brookfield, wasn't optimistic the state would meet compliance goals.

"My personal opinion is that we are going to fall short," Grisa said, because reductions are so high in some areas. "And then what other pollutants are out there that the state then says we should go after?"

Similar efforts are taking place on the Lower Fox River in northeastern Wisconsin and on the Rock River in southern Wisconsin.

On the Fox, high phosphorus levels are flowing into Green Bay and have spurred a seasonal "dead zone" of low oxygen levels. The Green Bay sewerage district estimated the cost to communities and industry, if there is no help from agriculture, at $800 million to $1.1 billion.

But a Milwaukee-Green Bay comparison is difficult to make, according to Sharon Gayan, chief water regulator for the DNR in Milwaukee. On the Fox, phosphorus is a bigger problem, farming plays a bigger role and pollution is highly concentrated between Appleton and Green Bay, she said.

The reductions for the Milwaukee basin used computer modeling to estimate the amount of pollution rivers and streams can tolerate and meet state water quality standards.

"It's baby steps we need to take down a very long path," said Ezra Meyer of Clean Wisconsin, an environmental group.

The federal act requires factories and waste water treatment plants to limit the volume of pollution entering public waters. Under law, cities must reduce pollutants in rainwater. But much of the grime and dirt that washes off the land escapes any type of controls.

"We have known for a long time that urban and rural storm water runoff was one of the remaining major sources of pollution in the watershed," said Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, which developed the plan with oversight from the DNR and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The draft plan is four years behind schedule, in part, because MMSD and its consultants grappled with producing accurate models.

Officials have said they would like to strike deals such as with subsidies to farms to reduce runoff — a tactic that could be cheaper than getting reductions in cities.

But despite $5 billion in government spending since 1980 — including the deep tunnel system that captures storm water — pollution problems persist, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in 2014.

The newspaper analyzed water sampling data from MMSD between 1981 to 2013. The analysis showed bacteria levels are improving, but a measure for road salt is getting worse almost everywhere. Limits on road salt, however, are not a part of the process.

While suspended solids and phosphorus are trending down, data show that both can spike after big rains.

The DNR will hold a public information meeting on the draft plan from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Monday at Wauwatosa City Hall.