Milwaukee River Estuary Area of Concern
In the early 1970’s, following massive algae blooms and fish kills, newspaper headlines declared that Lake Erie was “dead”. Articles about extreme pollution in the Cuyahoga River in Northeastern Ohio were often accompanied by photos of the famous Cuyahoga River fire, a three day period where the river itself caught fire due to high levels of contamination. By the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Great Lakes and their surrounding watersheds had been subject to such extensive environmental degradation that it became apparent a binational and multi-state solution would be necessary.
In 1978, government officials from the United States and Canada drafted the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The agreement emphasized the need for collaborative efforts to restore the ecological health of the Great Lakes by focusing on key pollutants of concern. A major component of the Agreement was also the designation of 43 Areas of Concern (AOC’s) throughout the Great Lakes Region. Areas of Concern, such as the Milwaukee River Estuary (Figure 16), were designated based on the observed and anticipated ecological impacts associated with historic industrial activity and legacy pollution in each of the 43 locations. In other words, sites listed as AOC’s were considered to be critically degraded as compared to other similar, often urban, areas of the Great Lakes, and were determined to be in dire need of restoration to overcome existing legacy contamination.
To track those ecological impacts, and the progress of restoration and cleanup efforts in each AOC, the Agreement included a list of Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI’s) associated with each AOC. A BUI can be thought of as “symptom of pollution” that can be monitored and assessed to help gauge the health of an AOC over time. Of the 14 potential BUI’s, the Milwaukee River Estuary AOC has 11, ranging from contaminated sediments and fish health issues to degradation of aesthetic value.
Milwaukee
An area of concern is guided by its Community Advisory Committee. The intent is for the CAC to be a broad‐based, balanced, and diverse group representing public, private, and nonprofit sectors of the local community, with members from agriculture, construction, business, education, government, industry, environment, law, civic groups, and recreation interests. Membership is voluntary and open to anyone who wishes to participate. A CAC Leadership Team will be established to organize and guide the efforts of the CAC.
The CAC is representative of broad community interests in the AOC. The CAC is comprised of citizens who are concerned about their environment, especially their water resources, and who are knowledgeable or willing to become so to provide well‐informed opinions and perspectives on projects and activities in the AOC. CAC members are aware of their core objectives and roles to improve watershed health. The group will assure that delisting is meaningful and representative of the community at large. The group is committed to a diverse membership, not just “the choir.” A representative cross‐section of the community is needed to build community support for AOC projects and activities. Members must be willing and able to put in their time, and the CAC may need their involvement after delisting to achieve additional watershed health goals.