Watershed - East River (LF01)
East River Watershed

Details

The East River Watershed includes the 206 square mile (534 square kilometers) area of land extending inland from the Fox River and lower Bay of Green Bay, stretching from the town of Red Banks to the village of Wrightstown. Approximately 90 percent of the watershed is in Brown County and the remaining in Calumet and Manitowoc Counties. The watershed contains many small streams and several large rivers draining directly to the Fox River. The watershed was named for one of the larger river systems: East River in Brown and Calument Counties. Principal streams in the watershed are the Fox River, Baird Creek, Bower Creek and the East River. Rural land uses are predominant in the watershed (152-square miles, 73 percent). Agricultural uses and related open space account for 80 percent of the rural areas. Woodlands and wetlands together cover about 15 percent of the watershed (WDNR 1991). Urban land uses (including developing areas) occupy about 57-square miles, or 27 percent of the watershed. The predominant urban uses are residential (35 percent), and parks and open undeveloped space (48 percent). Population and land use projections indicate that the population will increase between 5 and 10 percent over the next 20 years, resulting in an additional 8,700 acres of urban development (WDNR 1991).

Date  1998

Population, Land Use

The communities located within the East River Watershed include: the cities of Green Bay, De Pere, the villages of Lawrence, Ashwaubenon, Allouez, Wrightstown, and the townships of Scott, Humboldt, Eaton, Glenmore, Bellevue, Rockland, Holland and Wrightstown. Sewer service area plans are developed under Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 121 for cities, towns, and villages with populations exceeding 10,000 and in all designated planning areas, such as Brown County. Plans are developed to control growth in outlying areas and to protect water quality of streams, wetlands, lakes, and groundwater. The 1990 census reported 100,786 people in city of Green Bay and an estimated population of 117,247 for 2015 (WDOA 1995 and BCPC 1997). The 1995 census reported 18,397 people in the city of De Pere and an estimated population of 22,001 for 2015 (WDOA 1990 and BCPC 1997). A Sewer Service area plan was developed for Brown County communities (Green Bay, De Pere, Wrightstown, Greenleaf, Pulaski, Scott, New Franken, Pittsfield, Suamico, Holland, Morrison, Denmark and Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin) by the Brown County Planning Commission in 1972 and updated in 1982, 1987 and 1995. In these plans, environmentally sensitive areas (ESA) are identified and protected from sewered development. In 1997, the Brown County Planning Commission revised ESA definitions to include the following: all wetlands plus a 50-foot buffer; all navigable streams, plus a 100 ft buffer on either side or the floodplain, whichever is greater; all non-navigable, intermittent streams plus a 35-foot buffer on both sides. There are also provisions for steep slopes and erodible soils. Encroachment into the ESAs is allowed only in specific situations, such as a wetland or stream crossing for a utility line or with approval from Brown County and/or Department. ESAs have been identified for all water resources features in delineated sewer service boundaries. However, Brown County has proposed identifying ESAs countywide. Proposals to protect all ESAs countywide from decentralized sewerage systems (onsite and package systems) have been discussed.

Date  1999

Nonpoint and Point Sources

The East River Watershed was selected as a priority watershed in 1986 under the Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Abatement Program. This project has an exceptionally high level of participation for pollution control. Normally limited to three years, the landowner signup period was extended by nine months. The signup ended July 17, 1990. The high level of participation, especially in Manitowoc County, is attributed to the ability and efforts county staff made to establish good working relationships with landowners. The success of this project can also be attributed to the counties' willingness to increase staff and offices to administer this large project. According to models, if all cost share agreements and conservation plans signed up for are actually implemented, theoretically, the goals for pollutant load reduction will be met in three of the four categories of pollution sources. The nonpoint source control plan for this watershed contains detailed information about the streams and water quality objectives. A final report for the watershed project will be prepared by the Manitowoc County Soil and Water Conservation Department. There are five municipal point source dischargers and 16 industrial point source dischargers in the East River Watershed: city of De Pere, Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wrightstown Sanitary Districts Nos.1 & 2, Wrightstown Sewer and Water Utility, Atlas Warehouse & Cold Storage, Dean Foods Vegetable Co Green Bay, Dean Pickle & Specialty Products, Eilers Cheese Factory Inc, Fort-James Paper Co (2 plants), Green Bay Dressed Beef, Green Bay Packaging Inc Mill Division, Nicolet Paper Co, Packerland Packing Co Inc, Proctor & Gamble Paper Products Co, Schreiber Foods Inc, Schroeders Greenhouse, Stokely USA Inc Green Bay, Wisconsin Public Service Corp Pulliam and US Army Corps Engineers (Renard Isle).

Date  1999