Re: “Just reducing lake levels won’t prevent flooding. We need to do more.” (11/29/2018): Just who is Dave Cieslewicz talking about? We don’t know anyone who thinks lowering the Yahara lakes is a flood panacea; however, most everyone agrees that lower levels are necessary. We have been advocating since 2008 for an evidence-based, incremental reduction in Lake Mendota’s level; our position paper calls for doing so “while the community concurrently implements land and stormwater management best practices.” We also advocate for reducing nutrient/sediment runoff to natural levels
UW-Madison’s Dick Lathrop’s warning against using Lake Mendota as a stormwater detention facility is baffling: The Yahara lakes have always stored runoff, a natural detention function; CRANES advocates against using Lake Mendota, presently managed 5-8 feet above its natural level, for un-natural detention.
CRANES holds that the Yahara lakes must eventually be lowered to their natural level, for ecological reasons. This will also maximize lake-level related protection for Yahara communities (including Madison’s traditional neighborhoods, where one of us lives), while minimizing costlier engineered alternatives. Some existing infrastructure may need modification, for example, the new $4.5 million marina off Union Terrace and the offices of the limnology department of UW-Madison.
Dave participates in the annual Madison Reads Leopold event. So he knows that natural lake levels are the only way to achieve the expanded definition of “community” called for in Leopold’s Land Ethic, and the only scientifically defensible level with regard to ecology.
— Gary Werner, Jon Becker, Caryl Terrell, CRANES (Capital Region Advocacy Network for Environmental Sustainability)
I appreciated reading former Mayor Dave Ceislewicz’s article about the ongoing discussion of the important issue of flooding in the region. One aspect of this problem that has received little detailed coverage is the role that our historical development practices have played. According to land use inventory data produced by the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission, in 2015 there were an estimated 131,651 developed acres in Dane County. An astonishing 97 percent of this development was established before our current stormwater infiltration requirements went into effect in 2004. Successfully addressing the challenge of flooding in our communities will require addressing this legacy of increased stormwater runoff volume from historical development.
The good news is that around the country communities such as Austin, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Portland are retrofitting and redeveloping their urbanized areas with distributed green infrastructure — rain gardens, tree trenches, green roofs, porous pavement, and the like — to reduce the volume of stormwater runoff and improve water quality. There is community support for this approach in our region as well. In the recent A Greater Madison Vision survey, led by the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission, more green infrastructure was identified as one of the top priority actions for the future (full results to be released in January). Flooding is a regional issue that transcends municipal boundaries and cannot be addressed solely by the actions of a single community. But by collaborating together in coordinated action, our communities can work together to address this critical regional challenge.
— Mike Rupiper, Capital Area Regional Planning Commission, via email
