Control of Erosion and Pollutants.
Milwaukee Code of Ordinances § 290-7
in effect290-7. Control of Erosion and Pollutants.
1. APPLICABILITY. This section applies to the following sites of land disturbing construction activities and storage of erodable material:
a. Those requiring a subdivision plat approval or the construction of houses or commercial, industrial or institutional buildings on lots of approved subdivision plats.
b. Those requiring a certified survey approval or the construction of houses or commercial, industrial or institutional buildings on lots of approved certified surveys.
c. Those involving grading, removal of protective ground cover or vegetation, excavation, land filling or other land disturbing activity affecting a surface area of 4,000 square feet or more.
d. Those involving excavation, filling or storage, or a combination of excavation and filling of storage affecting 100 cubic yards or more of dirt, sand or other excavation or fill material.
e. Those involving street, highway, road or bridge construction, enlargement, relocation or reconstruction.
f. Those involving the laying, repairing, replacing or enlarging of an underground pipe or facility on private property or in the public right-of-way for a distance of 300 feet or more.
g. Those involving demolition, razing or major repair of any building where soil could be exposed to wind and rain.
2. REQUIREMENTS. The following requirements shall be met at all sites described in sub. 1 to the maximum extent practicable.
a. Dewatering. Water pumped from the site shall be treated by temporary sedimentation basins, grit chambers, sand filters, upslope chambers, hydro-cyclons, swirl concentrators or other appropriate controls designed and used to remove particles of 100 microns or greater for the highest dewatering pumping rate. If the water is demonstrated to have no particles greater than 100 microns during dewatering operations, then no control is needed before discharge, except as determined by the department. Water may not be discharged in a manner that causes erosion of the site or receiving channels. This includes truck washout or disposal of spent water.
b. Disposal. All waste and unused building materials, including but not limited to garbage, debris, cleaning wastes wastewater, toxic materials, or hazardous materials, shall be properly disposed and not allowed to be carried by runoff into a receiving channel or storm sewer system.
c. Tracking. Each site shall have graveled roads, access drives and parking areas of sufficient width and length to prevent sediment from being tracked onto public or private roadways. Any sediment reaching a public or private road shall be removed immediately by street cleaning, other than flushing.
d. Drain Inlet Protection. All storm drain inlets shall be protected with a straw bale, frame with filter fabric or equivalent barrier meeting accepted design criteria, standards and specifications.
e. Site Erosion Control. The following criteria apply to land development or land disturbing activities that result in runoff leaving the site:
e-1. Channelized runoff from adjacent areas passing through the site shall be diverted around disturbed areas, if practical. Otherwise, the channel shall be protected as described in subd. 5. Sheetflow runoff from adjacent areas greater than 10,000 square feet in area shall be diverted around disturbed areas unless shown to have resultant runoff velocities of less than 0.5 feet per second across the disturbed area for the set of one year design storms. Diverted runoff shall be conveyed in a manner that will not erode the conveyance and receiving channels.
e-2. All activities on the site shall be conducted in a logical sequence to minimize the area of bare soil exposed at any one time.
e-3. All disturbed ground left inactive for 10 or more days shall be stabilized by seeding or sodding, or by mulching or covering, or other equivalent control measure. Seeding and sodding may only be used from May 1 to September 15 of any year.
e-4. Erosion and sediment control practices shall be used to prevent or reduce all of the following:
e-4-a. The discharge of sediment from disturbed areas into adjacent waters of the state.
e-4-b. The discharge of sediment from drainage ways that flow off the site.
e-4-c. The transport by runoff waters of the state of chemicals, cement and other building compounds and materials on the construction site during the construction period. However, projects that require the placement of these materials in waters of the state, such as constructing bridge footings or BMP installations, are not prohibited by this subdivision.
e-4-d. The discharge of sediment from erosive flows at outlets and in downstream channels.
e-4-e. The transport by runoff into waters of the state of untreated wash water from vehicle and wheel washing.
e-5. For sites with more than one acre disturbed, in addition to the erosion and sediment control practices described elsewhere in this subsection, the following erosion and sediment control practices shall be employed:
e-5-a. BMPs that, by design, discharge no more than 5 tons per acre per year, or to the maximum extent practicable, of the sediment load carried in runoff from initial grading to final stabilization.
e-5-b. No person shall be required to employ more BMPs than are needed to meet a performance standard of this paragraph in order to comply with maximum extent practicable. Erosion and sediment control BMPs may be combined to meet the requirements of this paragraph. Credit may be given toward meeting the sediment performance standard of this paragraph for limiting the duration or area, or both, of land disturbing construction activity, or for other appropriate mechanisms.
e-5-c. Notwithstanding subpar. a, if BMPs cannot be designed and implemented to meet the sediment performance standard, the erosion and sediment control plan shall include a written, site-specific explanation of why the sediment performance standard cannot be met and how the sediment load will be reduced to the maximum extent practicable.
e-6. Any soil or dirt storage piles containing more than 10 cubic yards of material should not be located with a downslope drainage length of less than 25 feet to a roadway or drainage channel. If remaining for more than 7 days, they shall be stabilized by mulching, vegetative cover, tarps or other means. Erosion from piles which will be in existence for less than 7 days shall be controlled by placing straw bales or filter fence barriers around the pile. In-street utility repair or construction soil or dirt storage piles located closer than 25 feet of a roadway or drainage channel must be covered with tarps or suitable alternative control if exposed for more than 7 days, and the storm drain inlets must be protected with straw bale or other appropriate filtering barriers.
e-7. Within the public right-of-way no erodable materials shall be located within 100 feet of any unprotected storm drain inlet.
e-8. The city shall be notified 3 working days before any land disturbing activities are commenced.
e-9. The city shall be notified when erosion control measures are in place.
f. Native Vegetation. The land development or land disturbing activity shall preserve, to the maximum extent possible, grasses, forbs, trees, shrubs, wildflowers and aquatic plants that are native to Wisconsin, as well as any oldfield successions of native and non-native plants.
3. IMPLEMENTATION. The BMPs used to comply with this section shall be implemented as follows:
a. Erosion and sediment control practices shall be constructed or installed before land disturbing activities begin.
b. Erosion and sediment control practices shall be maintained until final stabilization.
c. Final stabilization activity shall commence when land disturbing activities cease and final grade has been reached on any portion of the site.
d. Temporary stabilization activity shall commence when land disturbing activities have temporarily ceased and will not resume for a period exceeding 14 calendar days.
e. BMPs that are no longer necessary for erosion and sediment control shall be removed by the responsible party.
Source: City of Milwaukee Legislative Reference Bureau, Milwaukee City Charter and Code of Ordinances (city.milwaukee.gov master PDFs)URL: https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/ccClerk/Ordinances/Volume-2/CH290.pdf#page=3Fetched: 10/26/2026