For more than 100 years, the Wild Rose hatchery in central Wisconsin produced up to 50 tons of fish every year, but the facility was showing its age, and wastewater discharge to a nearby Class 1 trout stream was also a cause of concern. As owner and operator of the hatchery, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources considered renovating or replacing the hatchery. With HDR as its fisheries consultant, the DNR decided to replace the facility based on the need to address comprehensive issues, from conservation to habitat improvement to state-of-the-art water treatment systems and biosecurity.

We developed plans and specifications to replace hatching facilities and rearing ponds while restoring stream habitat and surrounding wetlands. The goal was to reduce potential groundwater impacts and Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System violations. We designed conservation features to maximize water reuse, and the facility is hydraulically configured to allow one-time water pumping that meets fish culture program requirements while minimizing energy use and conserving groundwater resources. Our design allows the hatchery to maximize use of natural sunlight to attenuate chemical concentration levels.

We also designed a biosecurity system for the hatchery that isolates the egg handling room and modifies the coldwater building plumbing system to prevent any potential contamination from passing into other portions of the hatchery. The constant cleaning and reuse of the water in the hatchery also significantly reduced the number of effluent discharge points and effluent loading levels.