Tom Porter, owner of Lake Louie Brewing, discusses how crucial high-quality groundwater is in making his beers.
With another Wisconsin summer quickly fading, an increasing number of businesses in Madison and around the state are working to secure the long-term survival of the public waterways that play such a vital role in the season.
“Water is Wisconsin,” says Helen Sarakinos, policy and advocacy director for the River Alliance of Wisconsin, a nonprofit conservation organization focused on protecting, enhancing and restoring the state’s rivers and watersheds. “For a lot of people, you can’t separate protecting their business from protecting the water.”
The group’s Blue Water Business Consortium is composed of entrepreneurs and small business owners whose livelihood is clean and plentiful water — be it for tourism, dining, recreation, real estate, farming or brewing. They don’t always have the time to get involved in policy-making, but want their voices to be heard. A video on the consortium’s website tells their stories.
Key issues that members have focused on recently include the proliferation of smelly algae blooms on popular lakes, responsibly managing groundwater withdrawals, and water clarity concerns resulting from pollution.
“Clean water is imperative,” says Darren Bush, owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports and a charter member of the consortium, which launched on Earth Day 2014. “For businesses like mine, it’s critical. If my customers don’t have clean water, they don’t have anywhere to go.”
Other members of the Blue Water Business Consortium include Terra Firma Management Wisconsin, a real estate company in DeForest specializing in lakefront property; Madison’s Underground Food Collective, which works with more than 100 small farms in the state; Wisconsin Canoe Co., a rental and guide service in Spring Green; Plover potato grower Isherwood Farms; Lake Louie Brewing in Arena; and Central Waters Brewing in Amherst. They’re working individually and collaboratively to foster thoughtful water management and regulations that also encourage small business growth in Wisconsin.
To help elected officials and government leaders better understand the group’s concerns — and thus sponsor and support legislation that keeps water clean and healthy — the Blue Water Business Consortium holds “Pontoons & Politics” events where officials are invited to, among other places, Lake Petenwell — the state’s second-largest lake, located two hours north of Madison in Adams, Juneau and Wood counties. There, they are asked to assume the role of tourists.
“We show them the algae and let them smell what it does to the tourism industry,” says consortium member Tom Koren, who owns the Lure Bar & Grill on Lake Petenwell and is part of the consortium. He’s also a founding member of the Petenwell and Castle Rock Stewards, which strives to improves water quality and recreation experiences on area lakes. “I think it’s been quite productive. Everybody hears about the algae blooms, but until you get out here and see them, you really have no idea how bad the situation is.”
Coalition members also collectively sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency last fall confirming their support of the EPA’s ongoing efforts to revise the definition of the “Waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act to include streams and wetlands. In May, their voices were among those heard, as a revised Clean Water Rule was issued that is intended to protect these types of bodies of water from pollution and degradation.
The rule now defines waters protected under the Clean Water Act more precisely, “making permitting less costly, easier and faster for businesses and industry,” according to the EPA.” Additionally, the rule does not create any new permitting requirements for agriculture.
However, Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson spoke out against the rule and issued a statement claiming that “the EPA has expanded its authority over smaller bodies of water like wetlands, ponds and lakes that were previously not subject to federal regulation.... Stakeholders in Wisconsin and around the country deserve to know how this ‘water’ rule will affect their day-to-day business operations without fear of drowning in permitting and litigation costs.”
Sarakinos, who views clean water as an economic issue, not a political or partisan one, cautions that “We’re not going to change deeply engrained misperceptions overnight.... This is a long game.”
The Blue Water Business Consortium continues to add new members and plans to host a series of regional events in 2016 that Sarakinos says will “drive home the message that clean water is good for jobs locally around the state.”
“I’m very optimistic,” adds Bush, who is heavily involved in lobbying efforts and promoting the consortium’s work to customers at his store. “All it takes is a small shift in mindset.”
