I hope you're having a great summer reconnecting with friends, family, colleagues, and water. I will give a summary of several of our Section's activities and plans.
The July Central States Exchange (CSX) meeting in Wisconsin Dells was productive and fun. You'll find a more complete CSX report in this issue of Central States Water. I'd like to thank Beth Vogt, Eric Lecuyer, and the Association Board for preparing a thoughtful meeting agenda and promoting active participation. CSX is open to all members and highly encouraged for Section board members and committee chairs. It happens in mid July every year.
Vice Chair Bill Oldenburg has formed a committee and is updating our Section's Strategic Plan. Please let Bill know if you have specific suggestions regarding the plan. Copies of past updates are posted on our web site. Keith Haas and the Section Board will be updating our Wisconsin Section Policy and Procedures Manual to improve the way seminar finances are handled and to make a few other minor updates.
The Collection Systems Seminars (Classic and Northwoods), Pretreatment Seminar, and Management Seminar were well-attended and received great reviews. The Young Professionals Brewers Outing organized by Mulcahy-Shaw was as fun as ever. It was a nice mix of both young and seasoned professionals and even a few out-of-state visitors who politely cheered for the Crew. Sincere thanks to the committees, vendors, and members who make these events enjoyable and excellent learning and networking opportunities.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has not been idle this summer, either. A summary of current regulatory issues can be found in our Government Affairs Committee's report posted at http://www.cswea.org/wisconsin/committeereports/. The WDNR has completed a framework for water quality trading at the request of the Natural Resources Board. We've also been told the WDNR has prepared a draft guidance document for implementing the new phosphorus rules into Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permits. This guidance document may be released for public comment in late summer. The WDNR is now working through their backlog and reissuing permits including new phosphorus limits.
On the total maximum daily load (TMDL) front, the WDNR is almost finished preparing responses to the public comments received on the Rock River Basin and Lower Fox (Green Bay) Basin phosphorus and sediment TMDLs. They expect to submit the final TMDL reports to USEPA for approval in late summer or early fall. These TMDLs will result in effluent limits for wastewater treatment plants ranging from 0.075 mg/L to 1 mg/L. Many stormwater permittees (MS4s) will need to remove additional phosphorus and total suspended solids. The TMDLs also require significant agricultural load reductions. The WDNR completed TMDLs in the Red Cedar Basin this summer, as well. It appears these will not have as significant an impact on treatment plants and MS4s. Other watershed-related news can be found in our Watershed Management Committee's report on our web site.
Congratulations to Joan Hawley for earning the Water Environment Federation Collection Systems Award and to Trevor Ghylin for the Canham Scholarship Award. These prestigious national awards will be presented to Joan and Trevor at WEFTEC this fall, and we are very proud of them.
Our Annual Business Meeting is scheduled for November 10 at Cabela's in Richfield. At the Annual Business Meeting we encourage our committees to meet face-to-face and we welcome all members to attend. If you are thinking of joining a committee and are not sure which one, this is a good opportunity to explore your options. The Watershed Management Committee led by Julie McMullin has again scheduled a webinar before the meeting and the main topic will be TMDLs. This webinar was a great success last year with many attendees in person at Cabela's and many others participating via computer. I hope to see you there! Bring a colleague with you!
