The Capital Area Regional Planning Commission (CARPC) works to protect, improve, and enhance water quality by implementing and updating the Dane County Water Quality Plan. The plan consists of a Summary Plan and technical appendices. It provides a policy framework and guidance for federal, state, and local water quality protection programs. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources adopts the plan as part of areawide water quality management planning under state administrative code NR 121 and the federal Clean Water Act.
Through this plan CARPC develops an environmental protection strategy for both pollution control and resource protection. This strategy encompasses waste treatment, best management practices, erosion control, vegetation management, stormwater management, and land use planning. Resource protection recognizes that land and natural resources perform critical environmental functions such as groundwater recharge and discharge, water quality improvement, erosion control, storage of floodwaters, wildlife habitat and scenic beauty. Some lands are particularly vulnerable in urban and developing areas. It is important to identify these critical and vulnerable lands and resources so that their environmental functions can be protected.