Our personal connections with water are formed through our experiences, such as swimming, boating, fishing, shoreline walking and sitting by the edge of the water, soaking our feet.  When people are connected to water in these ways, they come to care for them and often become better stewards. 
 
Improving water quality in Milwaukee's rivers and Lake Michigan, therefore, is connected to naturalizing our city's waterways and better enabling community members to appreciate and value them.  Natural rivers and lakeshores are also the most efficient way to ensure the best water quality and provide buffers from future environmental and weather risk, more so than man-made alterations.