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MMSD wants permit renewal, Common Ground wants audit first
"Not so fast." That's what a Milwaukee non-profit is saying as the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) tries to renew its permit with the DNR. On Tuesday, July 28, the DNR held a public hearing on the matter.
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is looking to renew its permit with the Department of Natural Resources. But a local nonprofit is saying, "not so fast."
The Department of Natural Resources held a public hearing on Tuesday to receive comments on the proposed permit re-issuance and variance before the department makes a final decision. In addition to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District executive director speaking, a representative from Common Ground also gave input. Common Ground is a nonprofit comprised of more than 40 organizations and pursues social issues.
"We want them [the DNR] to delay issuing the permit until after the performance audit is done," said Bob Connolly, the co-chair of the Common Ground Water Team.
An independent, third-party performance audit of the district's private contractor, Veolia, is currently underway. This is following whistleblower allegations of facility mismanagement. Common Ground is also making a few more recommendations before the potential permit re-issuance.
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"The second thing we want is for them to mandate in the permit that MMSD and Veolia run the water treatment plants, the wastewater treatment plants, at 100% capacity. Because they're not running at 100% capacity, our whistleblowers have told us that," Connolly said.
But MMSD said that is not true.
"We do operate the plants at maximum capacity all the time. But sometimes we have construction going on, and so we can't operate the plant and have construction at the same time, so we're always pushing as much water through the plant as we can," said Kevin Shafer, the executive director of Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Connolly also mentioned that MMSD should report to the public and the DNR how much flow is going through the plants when it sends flow into the deep tunnel and when it has an overflow.
"If you don't do the treatment right, you're polluting the lake, and we don't want the lake being polluted. It's the most precious resource that we have in the city, in this region, besides our people, and it needs to be protected," Connolly said.
Common Ground is also asking for the DNR to inspect MMSD's facilities on a semi-annual basis.
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"This is the first time I've heard of some of these," Shafer said.
Shafer said he believes MMSD will receive its permit.
"I think everything is operating well, but we need to let this audit conclude that the commission's asked for and see what it says. We're always looking to improve," Shafer said.
The DNR said public comment on the matter will stay open until Aug. 4. The department will start responding after that and may have a final notice of determination at the end of August. Officials say they will post that decision. It will then go to the EPA, which will have 60 days to approve or deny variance requests.
Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6's staff and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the Department of Natural Resources, Common Ground, Bob Connolly, co-chair of the Common Ground Water Team, Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and Veolia.