Stormwater runoff occurs in all our neighborhoods. It is the single biggest pollutant of our lakes and streams, and controlling it was a top priority in Design Dane, my first land use plan.

I’m happy to report that in August we became the first in Wisconsin to implement a county-wide program to protect lakes, rivers and streams from stormwater runoff caused by new developments that have large areas of hard surfaces, such as parking lots, rooftops and driveways.

Rain water or melting snow that washes off parking lots and other hard surfaces picks up a smorgasbord of pollutants –oil, grease, lawn chemicals, pet waste, sediment – and carries it into our storm drains untreated. The polluted water is then efficiently delivered directly to lakes and streams, leading to algae blooms and damage to sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

Thanks to the hard work and cooperation of developers, builders, conservationists, County Board members, local government officials and County staff, I am pleased that the County’s new Stormwater Management Ordinance is now a reality.

The ordinance requires stormwater runoff plans to be part of any development that creates 20,000 square feet (about 1/2 acre) or more of hard, impervious surface.

It applies everywhere in the County--in Madison and our other 59 cities, villages and towns. Local governments can opt to either administer the standards themselves or have the County do it. Developers must obtain a permit and be subject to site inspection.

Our approach was to set standards for landowners to meet, rather than mandating what practices they must use. Each site and every project is unique. Some runoff and erosion control methods include installing buffer and filter strips, grassy swales, deep tilling, planting trees and native plants, installing oil and grease filters, and sediment traps.

You and your neighbors who fish, as I do, may particularly appreciate that the stormwater management ordinance also requires a temperature control on water running off of certain sites near cold-water trout streams, in an effort to reduce thermal pollution.

What, you may ask, can individual homeowners and renters do to prevent runoff?

One great idea is to plant a rain garden! Rain gardens are landscaped areas – dug down three or four inches to two feet and planted with native flowers, wetland species, and other vegetation – which, because of their design and positioning in a yard soak up 30% more water than a comparable patch of lawn.

Rain gardens reduce runoff, help improve the water quality in the lakes, can reduce the chances for local flooding and also help reduce bank and shoreline damage where storm drains empty into streams and lakes.

Here’s an opportunity for anyone with a yard to do something positive with stormwater!

More information about both of these topics is available from the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission web site, at www.co.dane.wi.us/commissions/lakes.

-Kathleen M. Falk, Dane County Executive

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