By Sally Swenson
City of Madison

The City of Madison invites the community to attend and engage in a public meeting for the Warner Lagoon Water Quality Master Plan, Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 6:30 pm in the Warner Park Community Recreation Center. The City of Madison has been working on a planning effort to address the most significant water quality issues in Warner Lagoon. The planning process is nearing completion, and the city will host a public input meeting to discuss the potential improvement projects and determine what will be included in the water quality master plan.

This plan will be used as a roadmap for future investment in Warner Lagoon. The intent of this process and meeting is to address the lagoon specifically; planning efforts for Warner Park, as a whole, will not be discussed. 

Warner Lagoon, located on the western side of Warner Park, is a 28-acre, man-made lagoon that drains to Lake Mendota. The lagoon has a watershed of approximately 1,000 acres, which means it collects stormwater runoff from 1,000 acres of Madison’s northeast side. Users of the lagoon have reported deteriorated water quality in the lagoon over the course of its life, including sedimentation, algae blooms and fish kills. Because of this, it was requested the city take a more proactive approach in improving the lagoon as a resource. Over the past two years, the city has worked with lagoon stakeholders, the broader community, and a consulting team to develop plans that address the health of the lagoon while preserving its most valued uses, such as fishing, canoeing and kayaking and bird watching. On Tuesday, Oct. 29, these plans will be discussed in detail.

If you’d like more information about this project, visit the project website at cityofmadison.com/engineering/projects/warner-lagoon-water-quality-plan, or contact Sally Swenson at 608-266-4862 or sswenson@cityofmadison.com.