NOTICE!

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For low/moderate flows, water quality should not be a problem. However (at best flows for whitewater) boaters should be aware of the following:

These quotes (with personal emphasis and comments added) are from an article many years ago in the Shepherd Express (a local 'alternative' newsweekly) entitled "Going with the Flow -- How the suburbs are helping close the beaches":

"Tests during rainfalls ... at 15 sites along waterways in Milwaukee County regularly show Ecoli and fecal coliform amounts are thousands of times higher than the EPA standards for beach closings ..."

"... numbers this high are comparable to untreated sewage."

"One study found ... about 15% of fecal coliform found in stormwater runoff is from dogs." (I.E., people who do not pick up after their pets!)

"The highest concentrations of E.coli and fecal coliform have been found in Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa and in the Little Menomonee River" (Two of the tributaries of this section of river!)

" people can get sick from water like that, but the illness may be passed off as something else since it isn't that severe."

So . . . take all that for what you wish to make of it, and make your personal decision about your health risk-tolerance!

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