Green Infrastructure in Milwaukee
Exploring green infrastructure to reduce flooding in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Welcome to Milwaukee!
Milwaukee is a dynamic area in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee River, Menomonee River, and the Kinnickinnic River flow through the city and join together at Lake Michigan. Milwaukee is a unique place for many reasons - one being their abundance of green infrastructure. This guided tour focuses on communities and organizations in Milwaukee use green infrastructure as a solution to water issues.
What is green infrastructure? When it rains or when snow melts, stormwater flows over impervious surfaces like sidewalks, parking lots, and streets, collecting pollutants that are harmful to our water systems and other natural resources. This runoff can also create problems with flooding and erosion. Green infrastructure manages water where it falls by slowing the flow and allowing water to permeate into the ground - resulting in more controlled water flow and cleaner waterways!
You can Follow the Drop by calculating how much rainwater runs off in an area in your community.
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) is government agency responsible for managing the water for 1.1 million people and 28 communities in the Greater Milwaukee Area. MMSD is a national leader in green infrastructure. Learn about their Fresh Coast Guardians campaign that supports everyday people in protecting and taking care of their waterways.
MMSD awards communities, businesses, and organizations the Green Luminary Award to recognize their work to protect the rivers and lakes near Milwaukee using green infrastructure. Recipients of this award often rely on countless volunteers to help address environmental issues in their communities. Keep scrolling to learn about some examples of this work in Milwaukee!
Fondy Park
Fondy Park , once a vacant lot, was transformed to a beautiful community meeting space that collects stormwater. It was created in partnership between the Fondy Food Center, the City of Milwaukee's Environment Collaboration Office , Home Gr/Own , and others to celebrate the 100-year success of the Fondy Farmer's Market .
Fondy Park collects and stores 83,000 gallons of stormwater from city streets using porous pavement made of crushed granite. Water is also diverged with a bioswale to a native prairie . Purple coneflower and lead plant are great native plant species used in green infrastructure.
Urban Ecology Center
The Urban Ecology Center not only has earned The Green Luminary Award for its green infrastructure designs to collect and recycle 1 million gallons of water annually, but also educates and connects the people of Milwaukee to nature creating the next generation of environmental stewards.
Almost every drop of rainfall that falls on the Urban Ecology Center's 3 locations- Riverside Park, Washington Park, and Menomonee Valley, is collected, stored, or recycled. Stormwater is collected in rain barrels and used to water community gardens . Raindrops landing on the buildings are also collected and used to flush the toilets at the center! Rain gardens are also maintained to filter stormwater and create beautiful habitat for wildlife.
Have you seen rain gardens or rain barrels in your community?
Bradford Beach
For decades, this beach experienced persistent bacterial contamination that often resulted in beach closures. The beach became known as Milwaukee's dirtiest beach. Organizations and researchers committed to protecting the beach worked to find a solution. Researchers found that stormwater discharge and bacterial contamination from seagulls were the culprit for the deterioration of Bradford Beach.
The county installed infiltration basins and rain gardens to prevent runoff from the beach parking lot and discharge pipes. These absorb and filter the pollutants from the water before they can enter the sand and Lake Michigan. Bradford Beach is now a popular spot for residents and tourists and is a location for the city-wide MKE Water Stories Project !
Milwaukee Public Museum
Have you ever seen a "green roof"? The Milwaukee Public Museum was in need of a new roof in 2011 and created a "green roof " with 1,000 biotrays of sedum , or a plant called stonecrop. This roof not only collects rainfall, but produces oxygen, reduces carbon emissions, and saves energy costs by insulating the building.
The museum also has a stormwater collection courtyard that help filter water with native plants. This space is accessible to the public to learn about stormwater reduction and management.
Milwaukee Stormwater Tree Project
Trees are one of the best options for reducing the amount of stormwater on impervious surfaces in cities like Milwaukee and slowly filtering water into the soil.
The Milwaukee Stormwater Tree Project aims to plant about 300 trees in a northside neighborhood that can collect more than 18,000 gallons of water in a single storm! Storms are estimated to increase in intensity including the amount of rainfall and changed in temperature. How do you think these trees affect that neighborhood during these storms?
Alice's Garden
Alice's Garden Urban Farm and Community Garden has a mission that focuses on regenerative gardening, community culture, and urban agriculture. The garden features native plants that attract pollinators important for the garden.
The green infrastructure installed at Alice's Garden are a result of exceptional community organization. In 2018, over 150 volunteers installed a 20,000 gallon cistern in under 2 hours . Water runs into the cistern via a bioswale and can be pumped out by a solar-powered pump to irrigate the garden. This is an incredible example of community-led problem solving in environmental issues! Check out the Rainwater Harvesting Guide for residents, communities, and organizations - informed by Alice's Garden.
Quest Complete
Click here to submit the final word to unlock your certificate for completing the Milwaukee Green Infrastructure Quest!
Green infrastructure doesn't rely on just one species to manage rain where it falls. The key is to have a variety of species that have the ability to store water in their roots and slowly filter water into the ground. Having diversity in plant species in Milwaukee also supports native wildlife such as birds and insects that help pollinate these plants.
Click here to explore a few important species used in green infrastructure.
Acknowledgements
This story map guided tour was developed by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute . The Great Lakes Quests are part of the Wisconsin Coastal Guide , an interactive map that supports heritage tourism along the Great Lakes coasts of Wisconsin. This guided tour promotes placed-based learning about coastal resilience issues in southeastern Wisconsin and is funded by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office for Coastal Management under the Coastal Zone Management Act, Grant# NA17NOS4730144.