STATE OF WISCONSIN
JIM DOYLE
GOVERNOR
State Capitol Room 115 East, Madison, Wisconsin 53702 • (608) 266-1212
• FAX (608) 267-8983 • [email protected]
Monday, July 27, 2009
Contacts: Carla Vigue, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2162

Governor Doyle Announces $1 Million to Help Prevent Water Pollution

Also Announces $65,000 to Clean the St. Croix River

MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle today announced the state is receiving
$1,070,200 in American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to keep and create jobs, to help
prevent water pollution, and
protect human health and the environment. Governor Doyle announced
that he will allocate $65,000 of this funding to support existing
collaborative efforts with Minnesota to improve water quality on the
St. Croix River, including reducing runoff of nutrient rich soil from
constructions sites and farms in both states.
“In Wisconsin, we are blessed with an abundance of fresh water,”
Governor Doyle said. “From our rivers, to our lakes, to our Great
Lakes, our waters define who we are. They drive our economy. They
drive our recreation. They drive our way of life. I am pleased to
allocate $65,000 to help improve water quality on the St. Croix River.
Pollution is a continuing problem as populations along the river
continues to increase.

Wisconsin and Minnesota must continue to work hard and work together
to protect this natural resource.” Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty met on Friday in Hudson, WI to
reaffirm their commitment to restoring the St. Croix River. Both
Wisconsin and Minnesota have made state designations and actively
manage the riverway together.

The $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
will be used for water quality
management planning activities such as setting standards, monitoring
the quality of the water, developing plans to restore polluted waters,
identifying ways to protect healthy waters from becoming polluted, and
developing plans to adapt to climate change.

For more than two decades, the St. Croix River Basin Planning Team –
comprised of the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Minnesota DNR, and federal
partners – has been working to
protect water quality on the river. In 2006, the two states signed an
agreement to reduce phosphorus pollution to the river by 20 percent by
2020. In addition to the 2006 agreement, an intensive study was
completed this year indentifying the remaining sources of pollution to
form the basis for the clean-up plan.
Using the collaborative work on the St. Croix as a model, the states
are undergoing a joint project to protect the St. Louis River. By
sharing the work of water sampling, identifying pollution sources and
doing the clean-up, the two states plan to save $1 million over the
next 8 years while also protecting and improving the water quality of
the St. Louis.