Local Current Events
September 14, 2023
The MMSD sewer interceptor project design is on-going, including further field work on the property of landowners who have granted permission for it. We know many residents of the area near the sewer alignment still have concerns about their drinking water wells. There are concerns that MMSD needs to expend additional effort to: properly identify well locations; review well construction records relative to the construction depths and methods; review prior well testing; and learn more about residents’ prior issues during past construction projects. IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED PROBLEMS WITH YOUR WELL DURING PAST CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS AND YOU ARE WILLING TO SHARE THE INFORMATION, WE WILL SUMMARIZE IT FOR THE PROJECT ENGINEERS. You can call or email VRPA with information including date and results of water tests, well function problems, costs of repair, and what construction project the problem was attributed to.
Town of Verona Sustainability Forum
Wisconsin Climate Change Impacts: Agriculture and Watersheds
The Town of Verona is pleased to announce that we are hosting a second “Sustainability Forum” for everyone interested in these topics. This is part of a series of presentations on energy efficiency, sustainability, global warming, and conservation issues. This forum will focus on Wisconsin climate change trends that impact agriculture and watersheds and will introduce ways to cope with the changing conditions. The presentation will be Wednesday evening September 20, from 6:30 to 8 pm and will feature speakers Lindsay Foy and Diane Mayerfeld. The location is the Town of Verona Community Room, 7669 County Highway PD, Verona. We will allow plenty of time for questions and discussion of these timely topics. Light refreshments and snacks will be served.
Diane Mayerfeld is the sustainable agriculture coordinator for University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Agriculture Institute. She helps educators and farmers learn about sustainable agriculture techniques and resources, including grants from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. She is a member of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) Agricultural Working Group.
Lindsay Foy is Executive Director of the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association. She was the first staff member of Upper Sugar’s downstream partner, the Lower Sugar River Watershed Association, and later served on the board of directors for 7 years. She later worked with land trusts in north central and northwest Illinois conducting land stewardship, easement and preserve monitoring, environmental education, and community outreach.
March 14, 2023 Happy π Day
Some updates about the Phase 5 and Phase 6 Sewer Interceptor and other matters of importance:
VRPA Directors Jo Tucker and Caryl Owen met with MMSD’s Project Manager Eric Hjellen and consulting designer raSmith’s Cory Horton on March 8 to ask for clarification on several issues that have been brought to our attention. We want to pass along the following information gained from our meeting:
The main objective of this project is to place sewer interceptor pipe connections from Midtown Rd through Shady Oak Ln to Hwy PD to convey 3 million gallons a day using only gravity flow, thereby eliminating the Midtown Rd Lift station. The Midtown Rd lift station (between Woods Road and Shady Oak Ln) is a number of years old, considered an inefficient system, and is nearing the limits of design capacity for pumping sewage.
MMSD does not wish to consider alternative solutions such as building a larger lift station or routing the sewage along a route other than the Richardson’s Cave ravine for reasons of cost effectiveness and efficiency.
We urged consideration be given to the benefits of preserving the Richardson’s Cave area and ravine for its beauty and unique geologic aspects; such features should be weighed in the decision-making process.
Details of the specific route of the pipe from Midtown to Shady Oak Lane are not final. The design team intends to try to route the pipe farther away from Richardson’s Cave, and to reduce the amount of excavation and tree loss in the ravine.
A team of geology experts has been retained to learn more about the bedrock depth and karst features, and to map significant features like wells and septic systems. This work will take place after permission for the field study is obtained from affected landowners. The area will also be studied for wetland and archeological features.
MMSD intends to meet with affected property owners this month (March) to gain more information about the specific concerns of owners. This meeting will not be open to the general public.
We asked if MMSD had put interceptor lines through any similar sensitive areas and were directed to a line that was installed several years ago. This line runs south from Hwy PD to West Verona Avenue along the ravine adjacent to Nine Mound Road. There is a paved public walking path along a section of the route which in part follows a dry creek bed between a moraine deposit and a bedrock outcrop. Interested parties can access the trail from Nine Mound Rd at the curve just west of the old Verona Town Hall location.
Please note, the maps posted by MMSD are dated and don’t reflect any updates
VRPA directors have also been in contact with the South East Verona Neighborhood Association, a group that formed in reaction to an MMSD/City of Verona project in their area. We’ve heard some interesting stories, received some good advice and recommendations, one of which is for a legal group that works with individuals who want to protect sensitive natural areas, the Midwest Environmental Advocates, based in Madison..
Ice Age Trail
VRPA directors also reached out to Kevin Thusius, the Senior Director of Land Conservation Strategy at the Ice Age Trail Alliance
We pointed out some concerns regarding the MMSD project and the proposed Ice Age trail segment connecting Woods Rd and the MidTown Rd sinkhole property owned by the IAT Foundation. Kevin Thusius was quite concerned with the impact the MMSD proposal might have and he has reached out to the City of Madison for more information and clarification of possible proposed trail connections and impacts on sensitive geological features.
HWY PD Expansion
And finally, infrastructure construction continues along HWY PD for EPIC expansion and highway redirection and widening. We are told there will be drilling and blasting work commencing in March this year into April. Residents with wells in close proximity to the blasting have been offered water testing services.
Importantly, the neighborhood at large has not been notified of this blasting and drilling work and there have been no advisements or offers to other neighbors whose wells might conceivably be affected.
Water Testing
Because of the near proximity and the common watershed we share within this bedrock, we, as neighbors, plan to get our water tested as a baseline should there be any issues related to the blasting, and we suggest that any other neighbors who might be concerned about their wells should do the same as soon as possible.
You can purchase simple water testing kits (which test for nitrates and bacteria) at most home improvement stores. For a full screening of your water you can order (or pick up) testing kits for a full laboratory analysis here:
Please let us know if you have other questions we can help with. If you would like to chat about the meeting results or have other details or information to share, please call or email us.
Town of Verona Sustainability Forum
The Town of Verona is hosting a “Sustainability Forum” for everyone interested in these topics. This will be the first in a series of presentations on energy efficiency, sustainability, global warming, and conservation issues. The first presentation will be Tuesday evening March 21st 2023, from 7 to 9 pm and will feature speakers Kathy Kuntz and Chad Laibly. The location is the Town of Verona Community Room, 7669 County Highway PD, Verona.