Milwaukee County’s goal is to enrich your life by providing essential services that meet your needs and those of your family, neighbors, co-workers and friends.
We enhance the quality of life in Milwaukee County through great public service.
Milwaukee County is home to over 950,000 people living in one of 19 communities, which range in size from the City of Milwaukee, with 595,000 residents, to the Village of River Hills, with roughly 1,600 residents.
Still a manufacturing stronghold, the region features 16 Fortune 1000 companies and thousands of others in the financial services, medical device, hospitality and retailing industries.
Find information about things to do and happenings in Milwaukee County.
Milwaukee County is a co-permitee of the innovative Menomonee River Watershed-Based MS4 Permit group. The creation of a watershed-based permit is a significant achievement, which has brought together 11 local governments to participate and collaborate on permit requirements — significant since watersheds do not follow municipal boundaries.
Stormwater Permit
Stormwater Management Plan
All permit holders of a Municiapal Seperate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) are required to submit an annual report to the Department of Natural Resources.
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |2014 | 2013
Please contact our environmental team with any questions or comments about our stormwater program.
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Milwaukee County has partnered with the Southeastern Wisconsin Watershed Trust to develop a stormwater awareness training module to train County employees. The 10-minute training video covers topics including definitions of stormwater related terms, best practices to prevent stormwater pollution and the WDNR stormwater permit that is issued to Milwaukee County. Watch the training video by clicking on the image below.
Milwaukee County is in collaboration with Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust (Sweet Water) and contributes to the Respect Our Waters campaign, which aims to improve the public’s understanding of stormwater runoff and water pollution. Infographs are courtesy of the Respect Our Waters campaign.
Sweet Water
Respect Our Waters
A TMDL, or Total Maximum Daily Load, is a limit of how much of a contaminant can enter a waterway without impairing the water. The Wisconsin DNR sets TMDL goals for each inpaired waterway in the state, specifically looking at Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Total Phosphorus (TP). It is Milwaukee County's goal to meet these TMDL limits to protect our local waterways.
As a part of our Stormwater Permit, Milwaukee County was required to perform a TMDL analysis to show where the County is at in meeting TMDL goals. Milwaukee County partnered with Ruekert & Mielke to complete this analysis. To achieve TMDL compliance, the County must reduce the annual discharge of TSS by 341,302.46 pounds and reduce TP by 1,464.69 pounds.
TMDL Analysis
Native Vegetation
Soil Testing
Lawn Fertilizer
Bacteria Pollution
Dangerous Dumping
Pet Waste
Green Infrastrucutre
Bacteria in the Workplace
Best management practices (BMPs) are constructed features used to control, store, and treat stormwater. Examples of BMPs include permeable pavers, rain gardens, infitration basins, wet retention ponds, and native plantings. Milwaukee County currently maintains over 300 BMPs at our parks, Zoo, and other facilities.
Permeable Pavement at the Franklin Sports Complex
Environmental Services designed and installed the first ever permeable paver parking lot in the Milwaukee County area at the Franklin Sports Complex. The parking lot has two acres of pervious pavement. Since then Milwaukee County has installed pervious pavement at nine other locations.
Agenda
Overview of Permeable Pavement Types
Pollutant Removal Effectiveness and WDNR Credits
Milwaukee-area Applications and How They Have Performed, Lessons Learned
Design Considerations for Effective Application
Alternatives to Using Permeable Pavement/Maintenance Issues
Rain Garden at Bradford Beach
GI Maintenance
GI Maintenance Challenges - Milwaukee County
Designing GI for Lower O&M
GI Maintenance - Outsourcing
GI Inspection, Tracking, Reporting-MS4 Permit Expectations
MMSD GI Maintenance Analysis & Lessons Learned for Municipalities
Stormwater BMP Performance Analysis
To encourage the use of best management practices and green infrastructure, Environmental Services developed a design guide to help planners and engineers choose the right practice to manage and clean stormwater.
Download the Design Guide
We value your feedback! Contact our environmental department with any questions or comments about our stormwater program or environmental issues.
Milwaukee County Courthouse 901 N. 9th St., Room 308 Milwaukee, WI 53233
(414) 278-5353 (Voice), 711 (TRS)