Water Resources Planning as a Key Component of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Plan

摘要

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) is responsible for preparing and updating a regional plan for land use and infrastructure within the Region, which encompasses seven counties in southeastern Wisconsin (2,689 square miles, c. 2 million people; Map 1). The water resources planning program is a significant component of that regional plan. Over the almost 60-year period that the Commission has been in existence, its water resources plans have been very useful to the districts, counties, and municipalities within the Region by supplementing local staff capabilities and increasing the cumulative institutional capacity of local units of government to address water resources problems in a coordinated and cost-effective manner through implementation of plan recommendations. This article provides a brief overview of the SEWRPC approach to integrated water resources management planning, illustrating the interconnections between water quality, stormwater and flood management, and water supply planning. The Commission has played an important role in environmental and water resources planning throughout its history. The SEWRPC water resources planning program (WRPP) is coordinated and integrated across the components of the overall regional planning program. For example, that integration recognizes the connections between preserving the capacity of the lands in the Region to infiltrate rainfall and snowmelt as an important aspect of recharging the shallow aquifer to maintain a sustainable water supply source for human use and baseflow essential to water quality and habitat.