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Christy Huzer of Root Pike Wind briefs Mount Pleasant board on stormwater, salt and native-plant solutions
Summary
At the July 27 Mount Pleasant Village Board meeting, Christy Huzer of Root Pike Wind presented the Respect Our Waters outreach program, warned about rising chloride and E. coli contamination in the Root River watershed, and urged native-plant buffers, updated pond designs and Saltwise training.
The Mount Pleasant Village Board heard a presentation July 27 from Christy Huzer of Root Pike Wind on local stormwater threats and community-level remedies. Huzer described an outreach program that uses hands-on displays — a stormwater space experience, a watershed model and a pet-waste exhibit — to show residents how runoff carries phosphorus, sediment and E. coli into downstream waters.
Huzer said many local streams are on the EPA’s 303(d) impaired-waters list because of excess phosphorus and sediment, and she warned that chloride contamination from road salt is rising. "This fact is terrifying: 1 teaspoon of road salt permanently pollutes 5 gallons of fresh water," Huzer told the board, and she urged trustees to attend Saltwise training workshops and encourage native-plant buffers around stormwater ponds.
Huzer outlined technical and design alternatives municipal officials can promote, including converting turf buffers to native vegetation, using regenerative stormwater conveyance systems (a series of connected rain gardens that infiltrate runoff), and considering constructed wetlands as an alternative to standard stormwater ponds. She described a local example at Shoreland Lutheran (Somers) where an RSC was used instead of two large ponds and said UW Parkside had installed a small-scale RSC in a ditch line.
When a trustee said a previous postcard campaign had reduced his personal salt use, Huzer recommended the Root Pike Wind 'Go Native' webpage for sourcing plants and noted seed versus planting trade-offs: "If you go from seed versus plants, I think it just depends on your level of patience," she said, advising residents about maintenance needs and nursery options.
Huzer offered to share a stormwater-pond playbook with the village and to invite trustees to upcoming Saltwise workshops, framing those steps as inexpensive, local actions that reduce phosphorus, sediment and chloride impacts on the Root and Pike rivers.
