Project Milwaukee

By WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR

What's Project Milwaukee about?

In-depth reporting, extensive coverage on issues vital to southeastern Wisconsin. WUWM's latest series — Great Lakes, Troubled Waters — dives in to the topic of clean water, or the lack there of.

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Project Milwaukee episodes:

07.12.2019
Wisconsin's Water Quality: People Share Concerns & Propose Solutions At Racine Hearing
A group of Wisconsin legislators spent more than five hours Thursday listening to experts, advocates and residents who gathered in Racine . The topic was water quality and how to improve it. Water quality has become a buzz phrase in...
05.10.2019
'It's Something I'll Never Forget': Cryptosporidium's Impact On Milwaukeeans
Milwaukee experienced the largest outbreak of cryptosporidium in the spring of 1993. The outbreak made 400,000 sick. Over 4,000 were hospitalized. And 104 deaths were recorded. It made a lasting impression for many who got sick or simply lived through...
05.10.2019
Why Milwaukee Needs A Comprehensive Water Management Plan
Some people are concerned about the many lead pipes that deliver water into older Milwaukee homes. Others applaud the city for tackling stormwater management through green infrastructure . But how is Milwaukee doing at creating a comprehensive water management plan?...
05.10.2019
Wisconsin Scientists Are Trying New Techniques To Help Protect Water
Wisconsin scientists are working on new ways to protect drinking and surface water from pollutants. They’re also investigating better methods of cleaning water that's already contaminated. But researchers say success may cost taxpayers more money. Department of Natural Resources (DNR)...
05.10.2019
What's That Smell When You Drive Over Milwaukee's Hoan Bridge?
Editor's note: This piece was originally published on Nov. 3, 2017. Imagine you're driving into downtown Milwaukee over the Hoan Bridge. Lake Michigan glistens to the east, the city's skyline rises before you, and then WHAM! A smell infiltrates your...
05.09.2019
What Does It Mean For Milwaukee To Be A 'Water Hub?'
WUWM's Project Milwaukee series Great Lakes, Troubled Waters is examining the topic of clean water, or the lack thereof, in southeastern Wisconsin — particularly in a place like Milwaukee that considers itself to be a "water hub." Water hubs are...
05.09.2019
5 Ways To Conserve Water At Home
Quality is perhaps the most important part of any water distribution system. Water utilities process every drop that makes it into our plumbing, which takes a lot of time and energy. One way to keep from overburdening the system is...
05.09.2019
Young People Of Color Lend Their Voices To Water Issues In Milwaukee
In discussions about the health and safety of water, it’s typical to hear from experts, public health officials and government leaders. But you don't often get the opinions of younger people who are just beginning to learn and care about...
05.09.2019
Green Infrastructure Helps Manage Water In Milwaukee's Urban Landscape
Rainstorms are a challenge to clean water. They can cause flooding and potentially damaging runoff . But utilities, landscape architects and others are finding solutions — visible everywhere from the county grounds to your neighborhood ice cream shop. In 2011,...
05.08.2019
Cryptosporidium Vs. Lead: Comparing Milwaukee’s Response To These Major Water Threats
Both cryptosporidium and lead have threatened Milwaukee’s clean drinking water. While there are stark differences in the two water contaminants, what can we learn from how the city dealt with both? First, it’s important to state that cryptosporidium and lead...
05.08.2019
What Can Milwaukee Learn From Madison's Lead Pipe Removal?
When the Lead and Copper Rule was first issued in 1991, it put federal limits on the acceptable amount of these metals found in drinking water. Cities started testing their water. Researchers experimented with chemicals that could inhibit the corrosion...
05.08.2019
Project Milwaukee: Emerging Threats To Wisconsin's Water
WUWM is diving into the topic of clean water, or the lack thereof, in southeastern Wisconsin for our Project Milwaukee Series: Great Lakes, Troubled Waters . Tuesday’s live Lake Effect examines some of the main threats to our waterways. Here's...
05.07.2019
What Milwaukee's Lead Problem Means For Children
In Milwaukee, more than 10% of children test positive for dangerous lead levels in their blood. Health experts say the most common culprit is lead paint in old homes. But water that travels through lead pipes also poses some risk....
05.07.2019
Pollutants Are Abundant In Waterways Surrounding Milwaukee County
In older cities like Milwaukee, lead pipes are a potential threat. But there are different problems in rural areas. Ulao Creek is a tiny stream tucked into a quiet neighborhood in Mequon. On a recent afternoon, the water was high...
05.06.2019
Trusting The Tap: How Perceptions Impact Whether People Drink Tap Water
The issue of lead in drinking water isn’t limited to low-income neighborhoods around Milwaukee. The housing stock and the water infrastructure in many city and suburban neighborhoods are old — and lead laterals serve modest houses and sprawling mansions alike....
05.06.2019
Clean Water: Is It Achievable In Wisconsin?
We all know water is fundamental to our lives, and to all livings things. But do you ever stop and think about the water you have access to, and if it is actually clean? It depends on your perspective, says...
05.06.2019
Tony Evers Chats About Wisconsin's 'Year Of Clean Drinking Water'
Across Wisconsin, tens of thousands of people don’t trust the water that comes out of their tap — due to lead, agricultural runoff or industrial pollution. To address water quality, there’s $70 million in Gov. Tony Evers’ budget and he's...
05.03.2019
Good Well Hunting: Bay View Watering Hole Last Of Its Kind
Editor's note : This post was originally published Feb. 17, 2017. For this week’s Bubbler Talk , we visit the Pryor Avenue Iron Well in Bay View. Listener Lisa asked: What can you tell me about the Bay View Spring...
05.03.2019
Project Milwaukee: The Overall Health Of Our Water
With our proximity to Lake Michigan and world-class water research, why don't we have clean water? WUWM is diving into the topic of clean water, or the lack there of, in southeastern Wisconsin for our Project Milwaukee Series: Great Lakes,...
02.18.2019
The History And Impact Of Wisconsin's Only School Integration Program
Sincere Tatum, 18, is one of a handful of black students at Brookfield Central High School. The school is 70 percent white, 4 percent black. “It took a while for me to adjust,” Tatum said. “Most of the time I’m...
12.27.2018
'The Color of Law' Investigates The Government's Role In Segregating America
Editor's note : This piece was originally published on April 25, 2018. While Milwaukee is often cited as the most segregated metropolitan area in the U.S., it’s hardly unusual. In most American cities, people of different races live in different...
10.19.2017
'Justice for All': Lloyd Barbee’s Broad Pursuit of Human Rights
The late Lloyd Barbee is perhaps best known as the lawyer and state legislator who fought to desegregate Milwaukee’s public schools. A new book lays out just how broad Barbee’s fight for justice was. Beyond education, Barbee pushed for open...
08.15.2017
The 'Cosmopolitan Canopy': Where a City's Cultures Converge
Milwaukee has become known for its segregation , the racial, ethnic and class dividing lines that keep people from living and interacting with each other. But what about spaces of integration? Do they exist and, if so, what can we...
08.08.2017
Reggie Jackson on Milwaukee Segregation & America's Black Holocaust Museum
Milwaukee is known as the most segregated city in America. But often, that designation raises more questions than it answers. Growing up in Milwaukee, Reggie Jackson saw the signs of segregation all around him, even when he didn't recognize them....
05.26.2017
'The South Side' Explores How Segregation and Racial Inequity Transformed Chicago
While Milwaukee may be considered the United States’ most segregated city, our neighbors just south of us aren’t too much better. Chicago is consistently ranked as one of the most segregated cities in the U.S., and much like Milwaukee, its...
04.10.2017
Researcher Explores How Segregation Affects Maternal Mortality Rates
Over the past several months, data has shown rising mortality rates among a surprising population - middle-age, largely rural white people. But many who study public health say focusing solely on that data ignores the historic disparities in other areas,...
03.28.2017
Report Analyzes the Financial Cost of Segregation
A new study out from the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council , with the Urban Institute , has quantified how segregation may affect a region’s economy. The Cost of Segregation looks at the impact of segregation on the Chicago area and...
03.20.2017
Recounting the Push for Fair Housing, 50 Years After the March on Milwaukee
Segregation in metro Milwaukee can be traced back, in part, to discriminatory housing practices like redlining and racial restrictive covenants. During the Civil Rights movement, there was large-scale pushback against such practices. The 1967 March on Milwaukee led by Father...
03.17.2017
Project Milwaukee: How Can Metro Milwaukee Become More Integrated?
What can I do to help decrease segregation? What is being done to alleviate the problem? What can we do to change how segregated metro Milwaukee is? During WUWM's series, Project Milwaukee: Segregation Matters , the most common questions we...
03.17.2017
Ex Fabula Fellows Foster Tough Conversations about Race and Segregation in Milwaukee
It can be uncomfortable to discuss race relations. Discussions may be particularly minimal, in a region as segregated as metro Milwaukee. The group Ex Fabula relies on storytelling to make inroads. It invites its fellows to share personal tales about...
03.10.2017
Project Milwaukee: Segregation Matters Live Forum
WUWM has been taking a comprehensive look at some of the many issues caused by segregation in Milwaukee through our series, Project Milwaukee: Segregation Matters . Between reports on WUWM news and interviews on Lake Effect , we have looked...
03.10.2017
Ever-Growing Milwaukee Group Stands Up for Clean Water Access for All
Milwaukee Water Commons was created four years ago to educate the community about water - its rivers, streams and Lake Michigan - to cultivate informed stewards. “I came from a more traditional environmental effort, which was the Milwaukee River Greenway...
03.09.2017
A Homegrown Environmental Justice Advocate
Milwaukee native Davita Flowers-Shanklin brings a unique experience to the discussion of segregation, and its ripple effects. “I remember being in high school and being really into science and biology. I was the co-director of Camp Everytown , which is...
03.09.2017
Tosa Together Hopes to Create a City Where Everyone Feels They Belong
Segregation comes with borders, whether they are manmade - 124 th Street, the dividing line between Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, or natural - the Milwaukee River. Today, WUWM reports on one particular border, and how some people feel about crossing...
03.08.2017
Segregation's Impact on Metro Milwaukee's Health Disparities
Segregation can impact a person's body, mind and health. Not everyone has the same opportunity to be healthy in a city like Milwaukee. Dr. Julie Schuller says the lack of access to quality healthcare and environmental factors inhibit segregated African-American...
03.08.2017
UWM Professor: Segregation Normalized Through Institutional Structures & Practices
The road to modern segregation has been a long one. "There's been 350 years of segregation in our country that was perpetuated by the government as well as by the social norms, based on race in particular," says David Pate...
03.08.2017
Data Draws Link Between Metro Milwaukee's Segregation and Poverty
It’s widely understood that Milwaukee is a segregated metropolitan area. But what’s less-appreciated is how segregation connects to other social issues the area faces. Soon-to-be-released research by UW-Milwaukee professor Marc Levine links segregation to a key factor that overlays it...
03.08.2017
History Helps Explain Connection Between Segregation and Concentrated Poverty in Milwaukee
Poverty is entrenched in some of Milwaukee's mainly black neighborhoods. People studying the issue say financial struggles piled up as employers left. So they say change only will come when more people are put to work, in family-supporting jobs. Decades...
03.08.2017
Environmental Health & Justice Issues Figure Into Milwaukee’s Segregated Landscape
Segregation impacts many different areas of our lives in metro Milwaukee. One that may not be top of mind is its connection to environmental health and justice. WUWM found an intricate tapestry of challenge and hope -- starting with Antoine...
03.07.2017
The Power of Fear: Milwaukee Clergyman Fights Grip of Segregation
For clergyman Joseph Ellwanger, the battle to end racial injustices across the U.S. involved overseeing the desegregation of the pews of his church. Ellwanger is pastor emeritus of the Cross Lutheran Church in Milwaukee . During his stewardship, from 1967...
03.07.2017
Eviction Defense Project Aims to Help Milwaukee's Impoverished Neighborhoods
Segregation is connected to issues ranging from education to housing to health. So, it’s no coincidence that evictions disproportionately affects certain neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Writer and researcher Matthew Desmond chronicled the issue of eviction and its impact in Milwaukee last...
03.07.2017
UWM Students Talk About Race and Segregation
UWM students Sydney Lee and Dwayne Lee – not related, are both black and grew up on Milwaukee’s North Side. “I think growing up it becomes normalized because you have like the South Side that’s supposed to be Latino, and...
03.07.2017
How Some Metro Milwaukee Schools Work To Bridge The Racial Divide
Metro Milwaukee has a segregation problem -- not least, within area schools. Over time, racial lines have been created here , dividing the area into distinct black, white and Latino neighborhoods. As a result, many local schools have also become...
03.07.2017
Eviction Defense Project Aims to Help Milwaukee's Impoverished Neighborhoods
Segregation is connected to issues ranging from education to housing to health. So, it’s no coincidence that evictions disproportionately affects certain neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Writer and researcher Matthew Desmond chronicled the issue of eviction and its impact in Milwaukee last...
03.06.2017
Why Some People Live Where They Do, in Segregated Metropolitan Milwaukee
Several reasons emerge as to why people in metro Milwaukee live in either segregated or integrated neighborhoods in what is the most racially segregated metro area in the country. Sometimes people have a choice, other times they do not. And...
03.06.2017
How Segregation Impacts Milwaukee's Latino Community
There's a common misconception that many, or most, Latinos in Milwaukee are actually immigrants; however, Hispanic people have been living in the area since the 1920s. There were relatively few Latinos in our community for decades. "The big numbers start...
03.03.2017
Segregation Lines Starkly Divide Metropolitan Milwaukee
Milwaukee is one of the most segregated metro areas in America, according to the latest census figures. 90 percent of African-American households in the region live in Milwaukee. The numbers also point to huge economic disparities smothering African-Americans who live...
03.03.2017
Meeting Milwaukee's 'Great Migrants' and Their Southern Roots
During the early to mid-1900s, the Great Migration brought millions of African-Americans from rural, southern towns to cities like Chicago, Detroit, and of course, Milwaukee. To this day, many older, black Milwaukeeans have roots in the South. Many moved here...
03.03.2017
How Did Metro Milwaukee Become So Segregated?
“Segregation is not an accident,” according to Reggie Jackson, the head griot for American’s Black Holocaust Museum . “There’s this idea that people self-segregate, but the reality is that there’s never really been self-segregation in Milwaukee,” Jackson says. “The segregation...
03.02.2017
Preview of Project Milwaukee: Segregation Matters Series
The Milwaukee metro area has a reputation as one of the most segregated in the United States. A number of studies support that reputation. Yet what's talked about less are the reasons the community is so divided, and the consequences....

What's Project Milwaukee about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Project Milwaukee episodes:

Wisconsin's Water Quality: People Share Concerns & Propose Solutions At Racine Hearing

'It's Something I'll Never Forget': Cryptosporidium's Impact On Milwaukeeans

Why Milwaukee Needs A Comprehensive Water Management Plan

Wisconsin Scientists Are Trying New Techniques To Help Protect Water

What's That Smell When You Drive Over Milwaukee's Hoan Bridge?

What Does It Mean For Milwaukee To Be A 'Water Hub?'

5 Ways To Conserve Water At Home

Young People Of Color Lend Their Voices To Water Issues In Milwaukee

Green Infrastructure Helps Manage Water In Milwaukee's Urban Landscape

Cryptosporidium Vs. Lead: Comparing Milwaukee’s Response To These Major Water Threats

What Can Milwaukee Learn From Madison's Lead Pipe Removal?

Project Milwaukee: Emerging Threats To Wisconsin's Water

What Milwaukee's Lead Problem Means For Children

Pollutants Are Abundant In Waterways Surrounding Milwaukee County

Trusting The Tap: How Perceptions Impact Whether People Drink Tap Water

Clean Water: Is It Achievable In Wisconsin?

Tony Evers Chats About Wisconsin's 'Year Of Clean Drinking Water'

Good Well Hunting: Bay View Watering Hole Last Of Its Kind

Project Milwaukee: The Overall Health Of Our Water

The History And Impact Of Wisconsin's Only School Integration Program

'The Color of Law' Investigates The Government's Role In Segregating America

'Justice for All': Lloyd Barbee’s Broad Pursuit of Human Rights

The 'Cosmopolitan Canopy': Where a City's Cultures Converge

Reggie Jackson on Milwaukee Segregation & America's Black Holocaust Museum

'The South Side' Explores How Segregation and Racial Inequity Transformed Chicago

Researcher Explores How Segregation Affects Maternal Mortality Rates

Report Analyzes the Financial Cost of Segregation

Recounting the Push for Fair Housing, 50 Years After the March on Milwaukee

Project Milwaukee: How Can Metro Milwaukee Become More Integrated?

Ex Fabula Fellows Foster Tough Conversations about Race and Segregation in Milwaukee

Project Milwaukee: Segregation Matters Live Forum

Ever-Growing Milwaukee Group Stands Up for Clean Water Access for All

A Homegrown Environmental Justice Advocate

Tosa Together Hopes to Create a City Where Everyone Feels They Belong

Segregation's Impact on Metro Milwaukee's Health Disparities

UWM Professor: Segregation Normalized Through Institutional Structures & Practices

Data Draws Link Between Metro Milwaukee's Segregation and Poverty

History Helps Explain Connection Between Segregation and Concentrated Poverty in Milwaukee

Environmental Health & Justice Issues Figure Into Milwaukee’s Segregated Landscape

The Power of Fear: Milwaukee Clergyman Fights Grip of Segregation

Eviction Defense Project Aims to Help Milwaukee's Impoverished Neighborhoods

UWM Students Talk About Race and Segregation

How Some Metro Milwaukee Schools Work To Bridge The Racial Divide

Eviction Defense Project Aims to Help Milwaukee's Impoverished Neighborhoods

Why Some People Live Where They Do, in Segregated Metropolitan Milwaukee

How Segregation Impacts Milwaukee's Latino Community

Segregation Lines Starkly Divide Metropolitan Milwaukee

Meeting Milwaukee's 'Great Migrants' and Their Southern Roots

How Did Metro Milwaukee Become So Segregated?

Preview of Project Milwaukee: Segregation Matters Series