I'm at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Madison now.

The highlight so far was a trip to see Milwaukee's high- and low-tech efforts to keep pollutants out of the lake, because we got to tour a tunnel that's being dug 300 feet underground as part of their sewage system. The 24-foot wide tunnels can hold excess runoff water during storms. (Milwaukee has a combined sewer system, so wastewater from buildings is combined with runoff water.) The problem is that during storms, the influx of rain water overwhelms the treatment plants. So instead of dumping water immediately into the lake or letting it back up into people's basements, it sits in the tunnels until the treatment plants can handle it. The system is not foolproof. There are still storms that overwhelm it and water goes untreated into the lake. But this happens less frequently than before the tunnels were built.

While that was all interesting, the best part was the trip into the tunnel. About 10 of us climbed into a small yellow cage. Then a huge crane that was attached to a cable on the top of the cage picked us up, swung us around til we were over the hole, and slowly lowered us down 300 feet.

I leave tomorrow for a four-day fellowship in Northern Wisconsin to study environmental issues affecting the Great Lakes region. I'll write more from there.