New program seeks to improve impaired waterways of Green Bay

GREEN BAY (WLUK) -- A new initiative is seeking to improve impaired waterways of Green Bay through a regional approach.

On Wednesday, NEW Water, the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewage District, launched the NEW Watershed Program in Ashwaubenon and Dutchman creeks.

“Through this program, we’re able to achieve permit compliance through collaborative partnerships that achieve a common goal of improving water quality,” said NEW Water Executive Director Tom Sigmund in a news release. “To see long-term improvement in water quality we need to work together to prevent these pollutants from entering our waterways, starting in the watersheds.”

The program, which was approved in December of last year, involves collaborating with landowners, farmers, land conversation offices in Brown and Outagamie counties, the Oneida Nation, private agronomists, universities and non-governmental entities. Community leaders and residents in urban areas will also collaborate to put forth initiatives to decrease the amount of phosphorus and sediment from entering area waterways or the sewer system, according to the release.