1 Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Legislative Audit Bureau November 2003

2 Overview u Serves 28 communities, including the City of Milwaukee, 17 other communities within Milwaukee County, and 10 communities outside the county u Commission consists of 11 members, 7 appointed by the Milwaukee Mayor and 4 by Milwaukee County suburban communities

3 Sewerage System u MMSD has spent $2.3 billion on sewer improvements, including the Deep Tunnel u Sewage is conveyed to one of two treatment plants or stored temporarily in the Deep Tunnel

4 Overflow Reduction Expectations u Deep Tunnel was expected to: –virtually eliminate sanitary sewer overflows; and –reduce combined sewer overflows to an average of 1.4 annually u From 1994 through 2001 there was an average of: –4.9 sanitary sewer overflows annually; and –3.0 combined sewer overflows annually

5 Factors Contributing to Overflows u 5 very large storms u Water inflow and infiltration (a 17 percent increase since 1980) u Capacity problem caused by siphons that convey wastewater to treatment plant u Sediment deposits in the Deep Tunnel u Operational policies and strategies adopted by the MMSD and its contractor

6 Reducing Future Overflows u MMSD will spend $786 million to increase system capacity and efficiency u MMSD will implement projects and procedures to limit inflow and infiltration of stormwater entering the District’s system

7 MMSD Compliance u Since 1994, MMSD has not violated permit requirements related to combined sewer overflows u MMSD maintains that all sanitary overflows were unavoidable and therefore allowable under the terms of its permit u In 2002, DNR and MMSD entered into a stipulated settlement of a lawsuit alleging permit violations

8 Post-Evaluation Developments u DNR issued MMSD its new permit on April 1, 2003 u Questions have arisen regarding whether overflow volume has been understated u A construction related sanitary sewer overflow of 250,000 gallons occurred in July 2003 u $2 million system underway to catch condoms after many found in Lake Michigan

9 Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Legislative Audit Bureau November 2003