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MILWAUKEE - Veolia filed a federal lawsuit against the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District on Friday, accusing the district of skewing its process for selecting a company to operate wastewater treatment plants for the next 10-year contract.
Veolia sues MMSD
Dig deeper:
Veolia's lawsuit argues MMSD officials met with Common Ground, a nonprofit group, months before Common Ground launched a campaign that accused both Veolia and MMSD of mismanagement at the district's facilities.
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In August, an MMSD committee recommended that Jacobs Solutions, Veolia's competitor, be awarded the next contract. Veolia accuses members of that committee of having "undisclosed ties" with Jacobs Solutions.
The committee was set to vote on a contract recommendation on Monday, Sept. 14. Veolia is also asking the federal court to block that vote for now.
MMSD contract, Veolia audit
The backstory:
Veolia is one of two companies, alongside Jacobs Solutions, that submitted bids for MMSD's next 10-year contract. Veolia's current contract expires Feb. 28, 2028, and the next one will be worth around $700 million.
As part of its current contract, Veolia Water is responsible for filtering waste water in Milwaukee and turning that waste into a profitable fertilizer, Milorganite.
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The company was also subject to an audit after whistleblowers accused Veolia of intentional mismanagement of its facilities and equipment, which some have said contributed to the historic, widespread flooding events the area has seen since August 2025.
Under their contract with MMSD, the company pays for maintenance and equipment repairs that cost under $25,000. MMSD foots the bill for bigger, more expensive projects.
Milwaukee MMSD contractor Veolia defends water treatment management
Veolia faces audit over mismanagement claims as its $700 million MMSD contract nears expiration.
Official statements
What they're saying:
MMSD Commission Chair Corey Zetts:
MMSD is aware of a lawsuit filed by Veolia regarding the selection process for our next operating contract. MMSD established its procurement process, criteria and timeline in 2024 and has followed it as outlined. Consistent with this process, an Ad Hoc Committee comprised of former MMSD commissioners thoroughly reviewed both bids and made a recommendation based on the previously established criteria. The MMSD Commission has not made a final decision. We will continue to follow each step in the process on our previously established timeline to ultimately select our next operator.
Veolia External Communications Senior Vice President Adam Lisberg:
Veolia is taking legal action to prevent the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) from completing a flawed procurement process and causing the potential for great harm to the Milwaukee-area residents and businesses that pay for MMSD services.
Based on internal documents, emails sent from MMSD officials on their personal accounts, and official records that contradict public statements, Veolia’s filing in U.S. District Court on Friday provides compelling evidence that the MMSD procurement unfairly favored a heavily-discounted proposal by Jacobs Solutions, based on questionable pricing, while denying Veolia a fair chance at being selected to operate MMSD’s system for another 10 years.
As detailed in Veolia’s court filings, MMSD ignored its own procurement rules in numerous ways and failed to independently evaluate bid proposals:
- MMSD failed to perform basic due diligence and challenge unrealistic, if not impossible, cost assumptions by Jacobs Solutions on costs and labor;
- MMSD’s audit oversight committee, tasked with "auditing" Veolia’s performance during the current contract, had undisclosed ties with Jacobs Solutions;
- MMSD did not consider the negative consequences of their preferred proposal on pay and benefits for MMSD’s workers.
MMSD officials also appeared to buckle under outside influence intended to manipulate the outcome of the process. MMSD took a number of actions related to the demands of Common Ground, the community group that launched a public campaign against Veolia:
- Common Ground met privately with MMSD officials as early as January 2026, four months before publicly launching their campaign, and secretly briefed members of the MMSD Ad Hoc Committee charged with evaluating Veolia’s proposal about their campaign against Veolia.
- Under pressure from Common Ground, MMSD Commissioners seeking reappointment publicly committed to audit Veolia’s performance – and release the results before the MMSD’s final vote – before Milwaukee Common Council members would confirm them to another term.
- MMSD officials acquiesced to Common Ground’s demands to audit Veolia’s performance, including abandoning a proposal to hire an independent law firm to investigate these claims after Common Ground objected.
In its legal filings, Veolia seeks to block MMSD from formally selecting and contracting with Jacobs, because it breached its duty to conduct a fair procurement process following the rules it established, and asks the court to order MMSD to conduct the procurement anew without any interference or favoritism. Veolia repeatedly alerted MMSD officials to recurring threats to the integrity of the procurement process caused by Common Ground’s campaign. These complaints were dismissed at the time, but the consequences Veolia warned about have indeed come to pass. The record provides clear grounds for Veolia to take this action.
The Source: FOX6 News obtained the federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, received a statement from a Veolia spokesperson and reached out to MMSD for comment. Additional details are from prior FOX6 coverage.