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A New Day for Wisconsin’s Waters
In many respects, 2012, to date, has not been kind to our lakes, rivers and streams. But June 11 ushered in a new day for Wisconsin’s waters. Article by Sam Weis & Amanda Wegner Photo by Amanda Wegner
A mild winter, short, intense rain showers early in the season, combined with extremely high temperatures this spring and summer have resulted in many lakes around the state experiencing algae blooms early and often. Madison, for instance, saw its first beach closing in early June due to a toxic blue-green algae bloom, and massive mats of algae now cover large expanses of the lakes. Large algae blooms diminish our enjoyment of lakes and drive away tourism dollars by closing beaches, creating foul smells and generally making it unpleasant to be in or around our waters. But Clean Wisconsin is excited to announce that work is moving forward to implement Wisconsin’s innovative phosphorus rules, which we helped pass in 2010. These rules hold the potential to not only clean algae-plagued lakes around Wisconsin, but could also become a model for cleaning lakes around the United States.
The problem
Unlike many other pollutants regulated under the Clean Water Act, phosphorus pollution largely comes from nonpoint sources, such as stormwater runoff and agricultural fields. Because existing water quality regulations largely fail to effectively address nonpoint sources, the impacts of these sources have continued to increase. In 2006, the EPA declared that 61% of See “New Day” page 5
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