DAIRY NEWS – The quality and availability of the state’s water supply is a top priority for all Wisconsin residents. Municipalities, farms and businesses are adopting innovative technologies and practices to solve challenges around water and ensure an abundant supply for current and future generations. These practices and technologies will be on display for community members, elected officials, educators, media, farmers and more on the 2024 Water Tours. Scheduled for Tuesday, September 10 from 9:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., the tours are hosted by Professional Dairy Producers® (PDP), UW Discovery Farms®, Wisconsin Counties Association and Wisconsin Towns Association.
The first tour stop will take participants to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), where they’ll see how more than 640 million gallons of wastewater are treated each day to serve the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Attendees will also learn about plans for an unprecedented clean-water lab that will test new emerging primary-filtration technologies that could lead to cost savings, increased waste-to-energy production, reductions in chemical usage and a further decline in sewer overflows and basement backups.
The second stop will provide attendees with an insider’s look at how modern dairy farms use and recycle water efficiently throughout their milking parlors, barns, fields and facilities. Roden Echo Valley, LLC, is located near West Bend, Wis., where the Roden family milks 850 cows in a 40-stall rotary parlor. They have been utilizing a variety of conservation practices over the past decade and are members of a farmer-led watershed group in Ozaukee County working to share ideas and implement new practices. They regularly host tours and share information about their dairy with schools, neighbors and community members interested in learning more about agriculture.
“We work to keep our water as safe and healthy as possible,” said Rick Roden of Roden Echo Valley, LLC, in speaking of one of the practices they employ to do so. “Planting cover crops helps us keep water clean because the living plant and root system hold the soil and nutrients in place.”
The tour bus will depart from WisDOT Park & Rid 40-85, Brown Deer Rd. E, River Hills, Wis., at 9:15 a.m. and return by 4:00 p.m. Bus travel time will feature facilitated discussions with water quality experts, researchers and more. Pre-registration is necessary for the tour, and space is limited. Registration cost of $49 includes bus travel, refreshments and lunch. Up to 3.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) per tour are available from Dairy AdvanCE. To learn more about the 2024 Water Tours and to register, visit www.pdpw.org or contact PDP at 800-947-7379.
Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) is the nation’s largest dairy producer-led organization of its kind, focusing on producer professionalism, stakeholder engagement and unified outreach to share ideas, solutions, resources and experiences that help dairy producers succeed.”
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