A Science Lesson on Stormwater
The beginning of Milwaukee’s water pollution
Following up on my most recent posts about the environmental arts program I developed in the 30th Street Corridor, I’d like to use A.O. Smith Corporation as an example of Milwaukee’s industrial history and its impact on the city’s water systems.
A.O. Smith was an automotive frame manufacturer and the second biggest employer in Milwaukee in the 1970s, employing 8,000 Milwaukeeans in 1970, a third of whom were African Americans seeking jobs in the city from the Southern US. As a result, Milwaukee’s Black population grew 1090% between 1940 and 1970. Employees at A.O. Smith’s 148-acre plant received good wages and a standard of living that was one of the best in the country for African Americans at the time.
Polluted Menomonee River in 1968, from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The 1980s recession led to a decline of the American automobile industry, and eventually two thirds of every factory employee across Milwaukee lost their jobs. The impact of this deindustrialization and massive layoffs – unemployment and poverty – have been long-lasting in the 30th Street Corridor.*
The industrial foundation for Milwaukee came at the expense of the environment, most notably in the city’s waterways, which were already in poor shape beginning in the late 1800’s when the city created a new system that was very flawed and only ended up diverting waste to Milwaukee’s biggest rivers – the Kinnikinnic, Menomonee, and Milwaukee. The system could not handle the waste of the high population, and led to smelly waters and fears of disease and contaminated drinking water.
Follow along in my forthcoming two posts about how the city’s water champions addressed this pollution and how you can contribute to limiting contamination to waterways in your home and city.
*An important follow-up point…a comeback story, if you will: A.O. Smith Corporation is currently one of the world’s largest providers of water heating, filtration, and treatment solutions. The company changed hands and focus areas a couple times, but it’s now at the table with other sustainability-focused organizations on The Water Council. Its chemical contamination to the rivers due to the 20th century industrial operations and the massive layoffs due to the Great Depression are disheartening, of course, but I like seeing A.O. Smith’s name on initiatives that are working toward a cleaner future.
A little about stormwater
Unsanitary, contaminated drinking water is a public health issue. Milwaukee rivers drain to Lake Michigan, which provides drinking water to over 1 million people in Southeast Wisconsin. Many businesses that support the city’s economy rely on clean water. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released 2020 data reporting $7.8 billion was spent in 2020 on outdoor recreation activities in Wisconsin, with huge increases in boating & canoeing during the pandemic.
According to The Water Environment Federation, stormwater is the only growing source of water pollution in many watersheds across the country. This is referred to as stormwater runoff.
Stormwater is any form of precipitation, such as rainfall or snowfall, which flows across the surface of the ground. Some of this water soaks into the ground, and the remaining water that cannot permeate becomes surface runoff. This runoff water flows into storm drains or surface waterways (rivers, streams, creeks, lakes). Daily activities result in the deposit of pollutants on roads, lawns, roofs, farms, and pretty much anything else that is considered the ground.
Know the difference!
Water in storm drain systems are UNTREATED and lead directly to a larger body of water. Water in sewer systems are TREATED.
Keep this visual in mind when I get into stormwater management through the sewer system in my next post.
Urban populations are expected to grow to nearly 70% by 2050, and human actions – from industrial processing and large scale construction down to mowing lawn or picking up after pets – all affect stormwater quality. Quite simply, more people = more pollution. So, education is incredibly important right now to keep the public aware and conscious of how our lifestyles can impact the water systems.
Here are just a few things that you may have — intentionally or not — sent down storm drains, eventually flowing into larger bodies of water:
Motor oil and auto fluids which leak from our vehicles
Antifreeze, oil, paint, or household cleaners dumped or rinsed into the gutter
Soap and dirt from washing cars in the driveway or street
Litter and grime that collect on streets, parking lots, and sidewalks
Weed killers, fertilizers, and pesticides that are washed off lawns
Pet waste left on lawns, streets, in the gutter, or on sidewalks
Dirt, leaves, and lawn clippings that clog storm drains and choke creeks with too much organic material, depriving them of vital oxygen
Soil from construction or landscaping that erodes or blows into the street, often containing pesticides or other pollutants
Pollutants in the air carried by rain through storm drains into our creeks
We’re so used to seeing storm drains along curbsides. But have you ever thought about where those lead? Anything that goes down a storm drain flows into a body of water that humans and wildlife use and NEED.
A report in 2021 showed Milwaukee was sixth in the U.S. in new arrivals, seeing 4% more people moving to the area than the year before. While the population growth is positive for Milwaukee’s economy, it is less positive for the city’s stormwater pollution problem.
Some cities and counties have regulations required by state and federal entities, like the EPA’s Clean Water Act, to minimize pollutants in their bodies of water; for instance, the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program (Flows To Bay) (bay refers to the San Francisco Bay) focuses on permit compliance with support from several subcommittees that oversee particular sources of pollution, such as industrial discharge, road maintenance, municipal waste, stormwater, city park pest management, and pollution inevitably caused by construction of sustainable stormwater solutions, like green infrastructure (which I will talk about in a forthcoming post!). You know they are being intentional when they address the harmful aspects of even sustainable actions — nothing is perfect.
The Flows To Bay program also has a public education component to make residents aware of the everyday actions that can harm our waters (like those in the image below). It can take very big picture thinking on a daily basis to consider the impact of our everyday actions, which can be difficult when we’re going about our days, so I love when education is a component of programs like this. If only ALL counties had something like this. Hopefully someday soon.
Illustration from Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program to promote stormwater regulations and permitting. The ways in which trash gets into creeks here applies to our creeks in Milwaukee. Creeks lead to rivers, which lead to the lake!
Undeveloped floodplain areas function to store and gradually release flood flows, which renourishes the land with sediment and other nutrients. Development near the floodplain can reduce the natural ecosystems’ ability to moderate flooding and thus increases flooding when pervious vegetation (wetlands) is replaced with impervious surfaces (pavement, buildings).
Due to climate change and the increase in precipitation, flooding is expected to increase dramatically in the next century. Flooding is the most damaging natural disaster worldwide, with average annual losses exceeding $40 billion. Milwaukee County has seen a 15% increase in average annual precipitation and has risks of flooding in Milwaukee over the next 30 years.
So, stormwater presents a challenge that isn’t going anywhere, agreed?
Okay, great! Let’s move on to the next pieces for you to know…
