Dane County plans to spend $750,000 this year to test out paying farmers to plant cover crops in an attempt to curb runoff from heavy rains and snowmelt.
A coalition of farmers, conservation groups and others in Dunn County is working to improve the water quality in a watershed encompassing 1,900 square miles in Wisconsin.
The proliferation of stormwater ponds over the years has cost taxpayers and developers millions of dollars in the Fox Cities, but officials say they are working as intended.
An Illinois-based sand mining company has agreed to pay an $80,000 fine in response to allegations that it failed to prevent untreated rainwater from running off a mine site in western Wisconsin.
The Obama administration has announced an updated five-year plan for restoring the Great Lakes, calling for accelerated efforts to address toxic pollution, invasive species and farm runoff and restore plant and wildlife habitat.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Milwaukee a $1 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant to improve Lake Michigan water quality.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Coca-Cola signed a five-year agreement Friday to restore watersheds that have been damaged or altered by development, wildfires and agriculture as part of an initiative to slow runoff and replenish groundwater on federal lands.
The state in the past 10 years has spent only about a fifth of the estimated $500 million needed to control water runoff from farm fields, construction sites and other areas.
Dane County is in danger of losing authority that for almost 11 years has let it tailor its erosion-control standards to protect resources such as lakes Mendota and Monona and trout streams.