With our proximity to Lake Michigan and world-class water research, why don't we have clean water?

WUWM is diving into the topic of clean water, or the lack there of, in southeastern Wisconsin for our Project Milwaukee Series: Great Lakes, Troubled Waters.

From the health of our drinking water, emerging threats to our waterways, the impact unclean water has on our communities and possible solutions — WUWM reporters and Lake Effect producers will work together to examine the many issues surrounding clean water.

» Emerging Threats To Our Water

» Solutions To Our Water Challenges

WUWM Project Milwaukee co-executive producers LaToya Dennis and Audrey Nowakowski explain the series, "Great Lakes, Troubled Waters" to Lake Effect's Mitch Teich.

Do we have "clean" water?

Gov. Tony Evers has declared 2019 "the year of clean drinking water" across Wisconsin. From issues with well water to lead service lines across the state, billions of dollars would be needed to address the many infrastructure challenges facing water utilities in Wisconsin.

READ: Safe Drinking Water Is Top Priority Of Evers' State Budget

“Unfortunately, thanks to a wide variety of reasons from a wide variety of sources and a wide variety of places in this state, we currently, unfortunately, have tens of thousands of people that are no longer confident that they can turn on the tap and drink the water,” says Todd Ambs, assistant deputy secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Four key areas the DNR is examining:

Legacy contaminants from industrial sites

Lead

Well contamination from runoff

PFOS contamination — found in everything from packaging to cosmetics

While nothing like the 1993 cryptosporidium outbreak has occurred since, people are still afraid to drink from their tap — even with continued assurances from public officials in Milwaukee telling the public that we have the best water in the country.

The health of Wisconsin's water sources

While there’s not one specific study to point to that gives an overall health grading system to water resources such as Lake Michigan, the Environmental Protection Agency reports on subjects like Lakewide Action and Management Plans, habitat and land use, zooplankton levels, and Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs include pollution, boundaries, and restoration).

Deregulation

When it comes to rivers, wetlands and smaller lakes, there is some improvement in regard to water quality. But there's also legislation that wants to deregulate the protections.

READ: Concern Swells Around EPA's Proposed Water Protection Changes

The 2009 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative still continues to fund projects that impact the Lake Michigan drainage, wildlife habitat and water quality, as well as working on reducing contamination from rivers and floodplains.

The Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers have long histories of pollution from industries dumping toxic waste and polluted runoff from farms and cities. While these rivers are cleaner (there was even an open swim in the Milwaukee River in 2018), ultimately, the Clean Water Act says rivers should be fishable, swimmable, and drinkable. Obviously, we're not there yet.

READ: How Did Wisconsin's Waters Fare In 2018?

Emerging threats

One major recent concern is runoff, both from urban and agricultural areas. For example, the Ulao Creek is a tributary of the Milwaukee River in Ozaukee County. Like many other riverways in Wisconsin, there is a lack of vegetation that creates the opportunity for large amounts of sediments to alter the water.

“Sediments a huge issue in this watershed. And also kind of everything that’s bound to to the sediment. So, in a lot of cases that’s fertilizers, again, coming from ag but also maybe coming from people’s backyards. Phosphorus is a big issue in this watershed and also bacteria," says Cheryl Nenn, of the Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

» Explore More Emerging Threats To Wisconsin's Water