Karl Green, the community natural resources and economic development agent with the University of Wisconsin extension, has met with leaders of municipalities bordering La Crosse. He hopes the communities can share their resources to develop unified ordinances, messages and procedures at a lower cost.

According to NR 216, municipalities need to reduce the amount of suspended solids, pollutants and even sand particles, in their water by 20 percent by 2010 and by 40 percent by 2013.

A plan to complete the first requirement, public outreach, must be established by May 15, 2008. The communities plan to communicate the same message in mailings and media advertisements and split their costs. They are also applying for a monetary grant from the DNR that must be submitted by April 15.

Beyond public outreach, there are five additional components to NR 216 compliance: encouraging public involvement, detecting and eliminating pollution discharge, regulating runoff at construction sites, enforcing erosion control and mapping the flow of storm water runoff.

While the eight La Crosse-area communities have only formally banded together to meet the public education component of the law, more collaboration is possible.

To meet other pollution controls the municipalities could share the costs of purchasing a new street sweeper or funding a full-time employee to enforce erosion control on construction sites.

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