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There's increasing interest in mounting a campaign within the Lake Wingra basin to reduce the overuse of road salt. The Friends of Lake Wingra (FOLW) are considering a neighborhood campaign to improve the lake's watershed, and that means (among other things) tackling the salt issue.The UW Arboretum is also working on a master plan that seeks to increase neighborhood actions to protect the lake.
Early in 2011, FOLW discovered that MG&E was comtaminating groundwater by pumping salty runoff into the ground at the Odana Hills golf course. While this project was begun in good faith to compensate for withdrawals of water from Lake Wingra for the Cogen Plant on the west side of the UW Campus, it went badly off-track when groundwater became contaminated. During their investigation, FOLW discovered that MG&E's permits to pump into the ground had expired, and that they had violated the groundwater law by not notifying DNR that they were exceeding allowable salt levels.
Recently, we learned that MG&E has curtailed the pumping as they seek a solution. But this puts them in violation of the requirement that they replenish groundwater to compensate for withdrawals from Lake Mendota. Talk about caught between a rock and a hard place!
Ultimately, the solution lies in going after the root cause of MG&E's dilemma--overuse of road salt on the beltline and in Westgate Mall.
MG&E at first said they would look into ways to reduce salt use in the basin, in cooperation with FOLW. But that's the last FOLW heard about any salt reduction campaign.
Next, FOLW decided to survey business within (and close to) the Wingra basin to see if salt was really applied in a wasteful manner. The survey was conducted in early March, 2011. The results were mixed--some malls and business owners showed responsible use, but others were guilty of wasteful use, or improper storage of salt stockpiles. Read the survey.
The Lussier WMCA was one of the places that used too much salt.
