Grant Could Help Bring Improvements To Honey Creek In Konkel Park

GREENFIELD, WI — A proposed grant from Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District could help to bring stormwater improvements to the section of Honey Creek through Konkel Park in Greenfield, according to city documents.

The proposed grant is up for discussion and possible acceptance at Tuesday's Common Council meeting. About $800,000 in funding from MMSD would help the city to create stormwater improvements as part of wider restoration efforts to Honey Creek, city documents show.

The grant, which comes as MMSD is seeking to improve stormwater collection countywide to reduce stresses on sewers during heavy rainfall, would pay 100 percent of the city's eligible costs in improving Honey Creek at Konkel Park, according to city documents.

In wet weather, stormwater can enter the sewerage system, increasing how much water MMSD needs to collect and treat. Green infrastructure, such as what is proposed for Konkel Park, may reduce the volume of stormwater that makes its way into the sewer system, according to the grant proposal.

With the grant, Greenfield would stabilize the stream bank along Honey Creek in Konkel Park, incorporate natural channel design, increase sinuosity and floodplain connection, improve sediment transport, install aquatic species habitat, restore riparian wetlands and improve access for community education and recreation, according to the project description in city documents.

The project would overall seek to improve habitat as well as water quality. It would also hope to increase floodplain storage capacity, according to city documents outlining the plan.

Other parts of Honey Creek in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa will also be seeing improvements in the coming years. MMSD is hoping to restore large swaths of the creek to a more naturalized state such as the parts of the creek outside of Greenfield that were lined with concrete in the '50s and '60s.

"Time has shown that concrete-lined channels pose more problems than a natural channel. After Honey Creek was channelized, it became a danger to people during rainstorms due to high speeds of the flow; fish habitats were eliminated, and it led to more severe erosion of the downstream creek banks," MMSD says on the project website.