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Welcome to the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission's bi-weekly roundup of news, trends, and events related to regional planning! To see previous editions of this newsletter,
click here.
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Private Well Water Trends
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Residents across the region who live outside of municipal water utility service areas depend daily on water from their private wells, so it's important to be informed about the quality of that water. The Center for Watershed Science and Education at UW- Stevens Point has a Well Water Quality Viewer that can help residents better understand their groundwater quality. This helpful tool visualizes data collected over the past quarter century from private wells across Wisconsin. The data can be displayed for 14 frequently tested parameters, including; nitrate, arsenic, and atrazine. With this interactive online map, the public can see well water trends in their township and throughout the state. Data were provided by a variety of sources including the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection; Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; and County Health Departments.
While this viewer can help identify regional results and educate private well users about potential groundwater quality issues in their area, there is no replacement for annual well testing. With this tool’s information, a private well user can make a more informed plan about which tests may be most useful to conduct. Private well users are responsible for having their own water quality test. Locally, testing is conducted by the Public Health Madison & Dane County Laboratory which recommends testing for bacteria and nitrate annually (or sooner if suspect changes are observed). For residents served by municipal water utilities, water quality is tested by the utility, but subsequent contamination can occur within residential plumbing and additional testing may be advised. The Laboratory has additional information on its website and can be contacted at 608-243-0357 to discuss testing needs and how to get a water test kit.
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A Greater Madison Vision Polls Summit Attendees
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Larry Palm, Executive Chair of CARPC and Co-Chair of “A Greater Madison Vision” led a presentation on May 11th at the Economic Development and Diversity Summit. The Summit co-hosted by the Urban League of Greater Madison and the Madison Region Economic Partnership, drew more than 500 people involved in economic development and workforce diversity from across the eight-county greater Madison Region.
As a bronze
sponsor, A Greater Madison Vision had the opportunity to introduce the initiative and get quick feedback to three questions about key driving forces of change and challenges we face. Using interactive text polling, attendees viewed their responses in real time.
The first question asked, which forces will be the biggest driver of change in our region in the coming decades? Among the choices offered, attendees picked aging and retiring baby boomers, increasing population diversity and escalating housing prices as the top three.
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When it comes to the biggest barriers the greater Madison region faces to success, more than half of respondents identified lack of cooperation and coordination. About a quarter picked limited resources.
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The last question got more specific, asking what single factor is most important for improving the equity environment in the region. Four out of ten picked better early childhood education, followed by more public investment in health, housing and transportation).
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These questions are a sample of the types of issues and driving forces that A Greater Madison Vision is looking into. A solid understanding of the possible, as well as desired, futures we face is important for preparing a shared vision and plan for how the region grows.
Find out more about A Greater Madison Vision at
AGMV.vision. At the site you can respond to survey questions, connect via social media, and find out how about upcoming events like our How-We-Grow computer game, driving forces workshops and more.
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Ramona Lowery began her work as an intern for CARPC in 2013 with the Environmental Resources Planning Division as she worked to complete two Masters degrees at UW-Madison. Ramona graduated with her first Masters in Urban and Regional Planning in 2015 and recently received her second Masters in Environment and Resource Management from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Her overall focus was renewable energy production in the urban environment through the use of buildings-integrated photovoltaic solar energy.
Now that she has graduated, Ramona hopes to combine her previous experience in architecture and urban planning with her schoolwork to pursue a career in sustainable planning. Her goal is to work for an organization that specializes in sustainable development thatincorporates renewable energy technologies within the built environment, encourages multi-modal transportation, and seeks innovative ideas to create more resilient cities. She has also expressed a specific interest in revitalizing infrastructure to create multi-purpose spaces, like using large, open, exposed rooftops for solar energy, wind energy, and urban roof gardens.
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Alexander Brown is a community planning intern for the Regional Planning commission. He recently graduated from UW-Madison’s Masters of Urban and Regional Planning Program with an emphasis in region and land use planning processes. In the future, Alexander hopes to continue to work within the region as a planner on issues of smart growth management, equity, and environmental preservation. He will continue work with the Regional Planning Commission throughout the summer assisting staff in community engagement efforts for “A Greater Madison Vision”.
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Lauralyn Rosenberger is also a community planning intern with the Regional Planning Commission. She recently graduated from the UW–Madison’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a B.S. in Community and Environmental Sociology and a double major in Environmental Studies. Her work in the former focuses on how societies are organized, how they change over time, and their interactions with the environment and food systems. Her secondary major in environmental studies linked her first major with environmental issues, science, policy, literature, art, and philosophy.
Lauralyn will also begin a new job with a new nonprofit called Neighborhood Food Solutions, where she will help facilitate community programs, engage in community outreach, and foster new partnerships for the organization. She wishes to work in the non-profit sector for a few years and then potentially go back to school for a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning.
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Events
Next RPC Commission Meeting:
June 8th, 2017 @ 6:00pm
Madison Water Utility
119 E Olin Ave, Madison, WI 53713
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