Our Approach

Excess stormwater pollution, contaminated sediment, degraded fish and wildlife habitat, and decreased recreational opportunities have created the need for a watershed-wide approach and regional collaboration for addressing challenges that face local waters.

Sweet Water bases decisions on sound science, bridges jurisdictional and social boundaries to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders, and works toward achieving a wide-spread realization that how we manage the land affects our water resources. We take a watershed approach through the following steps in order to secure healthy and sustainable water resources in the Greater Milwaukee watersheds.

At Sweet Water, we believe that a collective effort by many stakeholders is more impactful and sustainable than many disparate efforts. We work hard to connect actors throughout the Greater Milwaukee Watersheds to create meaningful partnerships that facilitate water quality improvements.

Each year, Sweet Water plans and hosts our Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference, which for fifteen years has been key to forging new partnerships and communicating the successes of existing ones. This is just one way in which we encourage partnerships- follow the link below to learn more!

We forge partnerships that build support for water quality projects and improvements

Annual CRCL Conference →

We develop and implement policy and regulatory tools

Sweet Water convenes a group of stakeholders under our Science and Policy Advisory Committees. The goal of these committees is to assist Sweet Water in the development of science-based policy tools to address watershed issues.

Advisory Committees →

These committees have developed white papers about the damaging effects of coal-tar based sealants on stormwater runoff as well as mechanisms for identifying the sources of bacteria pollution. Learn more about the committees and their work at the links below.

White Papers →

70+

Organizations represented on committees

100s

of Volunteer Hours Committed Each Year

We raise public awareness about reducing stormwater pollution

Sweet Water has two programs that raise awareness about reducing stormwater pollution- Respect Our Waters and Adopt Your Drain.

The Respect Our Waters campaign is a well-established program that uses television, digital, social media, and direct engagement, to educate residents of southeastern Wisconsin about the ways that they can reduce the effects of stormwater pollution in their communities.

The Adopt Your Drain Program provides an opportunity for Wisconsinites to begin engaging in stormwater pollution prevention by clearing local drains and culverts of debris and other forms of volunteerism.

Learn more about Respect Our Waters and Adopt Your Drain at the links below!

Respect Our Waters →

Adopt Your Drain →

We provide mini-grants to fund small scale water quality improvement projects

149

Projects supported since 2009

+75

Organizations supported

Sweet Water supports the efforts of grassroots organizations that want to install green infrastructure or implement other stormwater activities in their community. Each year, Sweet Water provides funds to groups that want to conduct these sorts of practices, but who would not otherwise have the resources to do this work.

One of the longest running of Sweet Water’s programs, we are proud of the accomplishments of all the alumni of this program. Follow the link below to learn more!

Mini Grants →

+$450 K

Invested in local efforts to protect waterways

Millions

of impressions made in SE WI

Green infrastructure is a cost-effective, sustainable approach to mitigating stormwater pollution by treating stormwater where it falls while also delivering environmental, social, and economic benefits. Sweet Water is committed to increasing green infrastructure adoption in southeastern Wisconsin.

We promote the use of green infrastructure to improve water quality

One way in which we do this is through working with Clean Wisconsin, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, and others to identify and remove barriers to green infrastructure that are written into municipal codes and ordinances.

We also work with Clean Wisconsin to provide workshops to municipalities and other stakeholders to increase awareness and practical knowledge about green infrastructure in the community of practice.

GI Codes and Ordinances Work →

Tamaracks+in+the+wetland+at+Konkel+Park+2018.jpg

We develop and implement plans for watershed protection

Sweet Water has led or assisted in the development of multiple regional and local plans for watershed protection. This includes the development of five updated Nine Key Element Plans for Watershed Restoration for southeastern Wisconsin watersheds. These plans lay out a rational model for undertaking watershed restoration and “unlock” certain EPA and other federal grant programs.

Watershed Resources →

Sweet Water also worked with regional stakeholders to develop a Water Quality Improvement Plan for the Greater Milwaukee Watersheds. This plan defines a framework to accomplish more efficient and cost-effective project implementation that leads to attainment of regional water quality goals.

Learn more about these plans by following the links below!

Water Quality Improvement Plan →