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Water Quality Planning Programs
- Monitoring
- Water Condition
- Watershed Plans
- Water Planning Process
- Sewer Service Planning
- Wastewater Plan Review
- Water Quality Planning Aids Program
- Invasive Species
- Nonpoint Source Rank
Related Programs
- Watershed Management
- Areas of Concern
- Aquatic Invasive Species
- Lower Fox River Clean Up
- Mercury Deposition
- Lake Michigan Fisheries
- Lake Superior Fisheries
- Contaminated Sediment
Additional Resources
Wisconsin's Water Quality Planning
Wisconsin has conducted Water Quality Planning since the mid-1970´s, when Clean Water Act authorities were delegated to the State Department of Natural Resources. The specific type of planning work has changed over time, but the end goal -- restoring, protecting and maintaining clean water and healthy aquatic ecosystems -- has been a constant through the past nearly 40 years.
Water quality planning helps direct resources toward high priority work items.
- Watershed Approach, Integrated Planning, and "GMUs" 1990s
- Early Basin Planning, Facilities Plan Reviews, Sewer Service Area 1980s
- Early Water Quality Planning 1970s
Watershed Planning Network (2007)
Technological investments by Wisconsin DNR have resulted in the state´s ability to better identify and track resource issues and better manage and share information on water condition. In 2001, the state received the first of many federal grants to invest in the development datasystems that build upon the state´s 1:24,000-Scale Hydrography Datalayer.
Work conducted in the past six years has resulted in two new water-related GIS-enabled datasystems. The first is the Water Assessment Tracking and Electronic Reporting System (WATERS), which supports the state´s water quality planning program, including waterbody level assessments, water quality standards, and use designation assessments. The second is the Surface Water Integrated Monitoring System (SWIMS), which supports a wide variety of work, but its primary function is to provide ready access to monitoring sites and results against the state´s hydrologic systems. Both WATERS and SWIMS are supplemented by the Water Program´s Surface Water Data Viewers, interactive webmapping tools which provide "data delivery" to DNR staff and partner agencies.
The logical evolution of these tools is the development of support systems for partnership work which affects and is affected by DNR water program activity. The WDNR recognizes, and in many cases provides funding for, watershed/water quality planning work on specific waterbodies or specific areas of the state. For several years, this planning work was conducted and no further action was taken. However, with the advent of new tools, WDNR is now able to provide online progress reporting and easy to use tools for partners funded through DNR grants to share their final reports and resource status with DNR and others by a simple"click of the mouse"!
More about the Water Assessment Tracking and Electronic Reporting System (WATERS)...
More about the Surface Water Integrated Montioring System (SWIMS)...
More about the Surface Water Data Viewer...
Contact
For more information contact:
Lisa Helmuth 266-7768
Watershed Management
Policy, Planning and Communications
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