We are pleased to offer registrants a selection of informative and inspiring tours of local remediation/community projects and a world-class research facility. Each tour is limited to a maximum of 44 people, 25 for the Sweet Water Organics tour, so reserve your space early. Please wear appropriate footwear and dress for the weather. There is a nominal transportation fee of $10 for each tour. You may select one tour for each day.
Tuesday, September 29
Buses Depart from Hyatt Hotel at 4:30 pm and return at 6:30 pm
Menomonee Valley Sustainable Redevelopment
Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley is a national model in sustainable environmental and economic development. The 1,200 acre river valley was developed in the early 1900s as Milwaukee’s industrial heart, but by the end of the century, much of the Valley was abandoned, with hundreds of acres of brownfields. For the past 10 years, public, private, and community partners have been working together to restore the Valley’s economy, environment, and sense of community. Today, four miles of the Hank Aaron State Trail runs through the Valley, sections of the riverbank have been restored and new public access created along the Menomonee River, and 45 acres have been restored with native plantings. New developments in the Valley comply with sustainable design guidelines and share a stormwater treatment area that also functions as park space, earning the Valley much national recognition for stormwater innovation, smart growth, and sustainable design. The tour will highlight sustainable development projects throughout the Valley, from the Harley-Davidson Museum to an office building turning lawn into prairie, and will focus on the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center and Community Park, recognized as one of the ten best developments in the nation by the Sierra Club.
UW-Milwaukee Great Lakes WATER Institute
The Great Lakes WATER Institute is a University of Wisconsin System research facility, with a mission to provide a focal point for research, education and outreach aimed at a thorough understanding of the Great Lakes and other aquatic and environmental resources. Located on ten acres on the Kinnickinnic River, the WATER Institute is a modern UW research facility of 120,000 square feet with state-of-the-art laboratories for aquatic ecology, microbiology, hydrogeophysics, biogeochemistry, fisheries biology and aquaculture, behavioral ecology, chemistry, engineering and environmental health, along with a number of research support facilities and administrative offices. The site has 1,300 feet of deep water harbor frontage equipped to berth and service research vessels as large as 250 feet, providing a direct year-round link between the research laboratories and Lake Michigan.
The tour will include a walk through the lab space of the building with a visit to the robotics lab showcasing the latest remote sensing and exploration technology, a stop in the instrument shop and a look at a recirculating aquaculture system. The R/V Neeskay, UW Milwaukee’s 72-foot research vessel will be open for the tour if conditions permit, and the WATER Institute’s green roof and rain garden will be included.
http://www.glwi.uwm.edu/
Sweet Water Organics
Sweet Water Organics is a three-tiered, aquaponic, bio-intensive fish-vegetable garden. Sweet Water will be the anchor project in the transformation of a massive building in an “industrial slum” into a show-case of the potential of living technologies and high value-added urban agriculture. Sweet Water’s sustainable aquaculture system converts urban waste streams, e.g. wood chips, cardboard, veggie residues, coffee grounds, and brewers mash, along vermiculture lines, into the richest possible soil. This soil, in hundreds of potted plants on simulated wetland tiers, filters the recirculating aquaculture water and utilizes the nitrates from fish wastes for plant growth. The project aims to yield up to 100,000 tilapia and lake perch per year, as well as $30 - $50,000 worth of greens and herbs. A percentage of this output will be offered to low income consumers at affordable prices. Sweet Water plans to spark 20 to 50 replication projects on a smaller scale in Milwaukee, with a focus on faith-based and school communities in low income neighborhoods, and to inspire 5 to 10 similar “industrial slums to ecological park” ventures in Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit. Sweet Water is also intended to become a training ground and eco-tourism destination.
Sweet Water Organics, Inc
Wednesday, September 30
Buses Depart from Hyatt Hotel at 4:30 pm
Return: Buses will stop at Hyatt Hotel at 6:30 pm and Discovery World at 7 pm
A Bus will also shuttle between Discovery World and the Hyatt until midnight
Bradford Beach Stormwater Treatment
Milwaukee County’s Bradford Beach Park is situated along the shores of Lake Michigan, on Milwaukee’s east side. The extensive sand beaches were experiencing numerous closings due to high bacteria counts. Stormwater discharges onto the beach were identified as a source of the pollution. Responding to the growing health concern and a desire to return Bradford Beach to its status as a recreation destination, Milwaukee County committed to a comprehensive construction and operations program wherein new stormwater treatment systems incorporating sustainable and aesthetic features were successfully implemented in 2008. Bio-infiltration cells situated along the beach help reduce the volume of stormwater generated and capture contaminants to improve water quality. Infiltration swales with native plantings are incorporated into the design of a re-built parking lot. Additional measures, such as the construction of rain gardens and re-vegetated hillsides in the “upstream” areas of the drainage basin have helped to reduce stormwater volume and siltation. These naturalized treatment systems provide a relatively low-cost and low-maintenance means of accomplishing the goal of reducing stormwater volume while treating stormwater to keep bacteria and other contaminants from the beach. These actions, combined with improved beach sand maintenance, a new food service vendor and enhanced promotion have restored Bradford Beach as a primary recreation destination spot in the region.
The Great Lakes Legacy Act Kinnickinnic River Sediment Remediation
The clean up of contaminated sediments from a section of the Kinnickinnic River, Milwaukee WI began in June of this year and calls for dredging of up to 170,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). The dredging is a 24/7 operation with the sediments being loaded on barges and taken to the U.S. Army Corps operated Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) on Jones Island near the Port of Milwaukee. The tour will take you up close to the dredging operations where the project partners will describe how the project came to be and the steps involved in getting the project underway. There will also be a stop at the CDF to see where the sediments are disposed. The Great Lakes Legacy Act is funding 65 percent or $14.3 million of the $22 million cost of the project. The non-federal share of 35 percent or $7.7 million comes from a state bond fund for sediment cleanup. The Kinnickinnic River cleanup is the result of many years of collaboration between EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, WDNR, the city and Port of Milwaukee and local stakeholders including Business Improvement District #35.
Request: Please wear close-toed shoes