Milwaukee County Supervisor Pat Jursik has published her latest E-Update, including this update on the Oak Creek watershed …
On October 17, the City of South Milwaukee hosted the group from Watershed Initiative Network (WIN); I thank Mayor Zepecki for hosting this meeting at city hall. While WIN largely discussed the Root River Watershed which does partially include areas within South Milwaukee, this discussion revealed what can take place regarding study and clean-up of a watershed area. Many active citizens also attended including the great volunteers from Friends of Grant Park and Friends of Mill Pond including former Alderman Mary Nelson, a tireless advocate for dredging the pond. This discussion highlighted the need for all neighbors living in a watershed to take responsibility for keeping our streams and lakes clean. Simple activities such as keeping yard waste from draining into storm waters or ensuring that oil or gasoline leaks from older cars do not foul our roadways which then get washed into the storm sewers and empty into the creek are examples. Before dredging of the Mill Pond can be done, we first need to address silt and toxicant washouts upstream. The county capital budget for 2015 does plan for a stream bank initiative for the Oak Creek. To realize the dream of the many citizens that signed the Petition for the Mill Pond restoration, all of the issues surrounding this watershed must be addressed.
I also attended this meeting and was happy to hear of plans for the WIN group to do a more detailed study on the Oak Creek watershed in coming years. I strongly support this effort — and look forward to better days for this watershed, including and especially the Mill Pond. I hope the city will help lead the way.
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