The Dane County Water Quality Plan has been continually updated, revised, and expanded since its initial adoption and certification in 1979. Learn more about the adopted policies, recommendations, and reports, and ongoing efforts to maintain the Plan.

Active Components

 

The 2004 Summary Plan represents a brief overview of the highlights of the full Dane County Water Quality Plan, including updated program recommendations for all water quality management program areas, and updated short-range priority actions for all local designated management agencies.

Dane County is also included in the water quality management plans for the Lower Wisconsin River Basin, the Sugar-Pecatonica River Basin, and the Upper and Middle Rock River Basins. Watershed plans are prepared by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as part of the statewide continuing water quality management planning process.

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. The following technical reports adopted as part of the Dane County Water Quality Plan address regional water quality conditions and resource management.

Pollution control involves appropriate location and siting of development and of waste treatment and disposal facilities, vegetation management, erosion control, and utilization of natural drainage systems and buffer areas. The following technical reports adopted as part of the Dane County Water Quality Plan present an inventory of point and nonpoint pollution sources and recommendations for waste management.

Sewer service area planning is a process designed to anticipate a community’s future needs for wastewater treatment and plays an important role in keeping Wisconsin’s water safe for drinking, recreation, and diverse aquatic life. A sewer service area plan identifies the boundary of existing sewered areas as well as adjacent land most suitable for new development (urban service areas) and identifies environmentally sensitive areas (environmental corridors) where development would have an adverse impact upon water quality. Policies and criteria for the review of urban service areas and environmental corridors are adopted as part of the Dane County Water Quality Plan:

Related Regional Plans

In the greater Madison region, regional planning responsibilities are divided up across several different agencies. While the resulting “regional plan” is not a single document, CARPC and other agencies work together integrate our planning and implementation processes.

The objective is consistency and mutual support between the Dane County Water Quality Plan, applicable watershed plans, and other regional plans such as the following:

Through its capacity as an agent to the Wisconsin DNR, CARPC conducts technical reviews and administers public participation processes for amendments to the Dane County Water Quality Plan. Following Commission action, plan amendments are forwarded to the Wisconsin DNR for administrative decision on amending the DCWQP as part of areawide water quality management planning under state administrative code NR 121 and the federal Clean Water Act.

Amendments to the Dane County Water Quality Plan may involve revisions to the sewer service area boundaries and environmental corridor boundaries, adoption of priority watershed plans, revisions to wastewater management in the region, or updates to technical appendices. Excepting amendments related to service area boundary revisions, the following table provides a record of all amendments to the Dane County Water Quality Plan.