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What Has Been Done So Far?
1999 "Bottleneck" Sewer Project
In response to significant rain events in 1996 and 1997, combined sewer improvements to alleviate a "bottleneck" in the are of the Stratford Court/Maryland Avenue/ Edgewood Avenue intersections were installed in 1999. The total project cost was $2.5 million.
Downspout Disconnection Project (Wet Weather Flow Volume and Peak Management Project)
The Shorewood Wet Weather Management Program was an award-winning pilot project partially funded by a grant from the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District (MMSD). The project educated residents about the serious effects of having downspouts connected to the combined system and provided free disconnection services to interested residents. Qualifying properties also received rain barrels or rain garden installations.This successful project disconnected nearly 1,000 downspouts and installed 268 rain barrels and 61 rain gardens. A total of 22.3 acres of drainage area was removed from the Shorewood combined sewer service area - that’s over 600,000 gallons of run-off for every inch of rainfall!
NE Area Storm System Reconfiguration
Two small storm sewer overlay systems exist in the north east combined area. These systems collect rainwater from street drains and discharge it to Lake Michigan. Engineers and staff worked to identify street inlets whose flow could be removed from the combined sewers and redirected to nearby storm infrastructure.
Splash! (Manage Shorewood Waters)
In 2018, a partnership between the Southeaster!n Wisconsin Watersheds Trust, Inc. (Sweet Water), Stormwater Solutions Engineering, LLC and the Shorewood Waters Project was awarded a Green Solutions Program Neighborhood Outreach and Green Infrastructure Installation Project grant was awarded by MMSD. The grant targeted properties in the combined sewer area for the disconnection of downspouts and the installation of GI on private property including lawn soil amendments (to promote infiltration), rain barrels, rain gardens, and StormGUARDen units (an above-ground planter which holds and infiltrates water from roof drains). Education and outreach activities included the installation of a StormGUARDen unit at the Shorewood Library as a permanent demonstration site and stormwater art in the Village Center parking lot. The project targeted the capture of 17,250 gallons of water per storm event.
2016 NE Area Combined Sewer Improvements
The Village of Shorewood’s 2011 Comprehensive Facility Plan included recommendations for improvements to the northern Combined Sewer Service Area. The project, completed in 2016, replaced and up sized approximately 3,800 lineal feet of combined sewer pipe and added roughly 3,300 lineal feet of terrace drain. The total project cost was $2.5 million.