Watershed in Brookfield, WI
In the City of Brookfield, there are two points of watershed which include the Upper Fox River Watershed and the Lake Michigan Basin. The water in Brookfield is known for being hard and having a lot of calcium in it. In my community, I think a lot of people are aware with the water quality and where it is coming from. There have been previous issues with the quality of water in Brookfield where it had been contaminated and was becoming unsafe for consumption. This lead to a change in where water was being taken from. I vividly remember this changing when I was younger because it was talked about so much throughout school and at home.
Water in Brookfield comes from 23 well sites throughout the City and is considered ground water. About 3 million gallons of water is pumper per day to homes. There are also 7 reservoirs and 5 towers that are kept to ensure that there is enough water during high demand periods. Testing of water is done every week and the wells are tested quarterly to determine the safety of drinking water. Treatment consists of using a small amount of chlorine in order to destroy any bacteria, treated with polyphosphate which is a corrosion inhibitor, and iron filtration is used to reduce the amount of iron content in the water.
Water conservation is something that I think everyone should be proactive about. A lot of the things we do here in Wisconsin is carried all the way to the Ocean, so it is important that we are conscientious about the amount of fertilizer we use and what we are dumping back into waterways. I also think it's one of the most important ecological issues because water is necessary to sustain life.
https://townofbrookfield.com/departments/sanitary-district-4/water-quality/
https://www.ci.brookfield.wi.us/324/General-Information
https://www.waukeshacounty.gov/globalassets/parks--land-use/planning-zoning/comprehensive-plan-maps-pdfs/watersheds-of-waukesha-county.pdf
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting piece, doubly so since I've lived in Waukesha and New Berlin so know to an extent the water issues and sources in adjacent towns, but not about Brookfield. It was also fascinating to hear about the actual chemicals used to protect our drinking water!
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteMy parents house is in Brookfield so this was very interesting to read. I definitely know how hard the water is there. I think I remember some days in elementary school when we weren't allowed to use any of the tap water. Interesting to learn why.
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to learn about another watershed in a different part of Wisconsin and I loved hearing about the mitigation strategies and how important it is to take water conservation seriously due to the downstream affects it can have.
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI loved your piece. More of a side note, the picture you used is also one that I used in my own blog for this week! I went to school in Brookfield, and I also remember when they talked to my grade about this in elementary school. I thought it was very interesting how many well sites there are in Brookfield.