In the 2010s, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District faced a choice. To meet strict phosphorus limits as required by the District’s permit, they could either build a multimillion-dollar, energy-intensive treatment facility or invest directly in the health of our local waters and landscape. They chose the water and landscape.
Today, that choice is paying off in ways the District never imagined. The Yahara WINS (Yahara Watershed Improvement Network) project has officially become the first in the nation to generate verified carbon credits under a new, science-based methodology for avoiding emissions by choosing watershed conservation over water infrastructure.
