MILWAUKEE — An accidental sanitary sewer release occurred Tuesday, March 11, into Lincoln Creek near 32nd Street and Hampton Avenue in Milwaukee.
Workers from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s contractor (MMSD), Veolia Water Milwaukee, discharged approximately 9,600 gallons of sanitary sewage from a vacuum truck into a storm sewer that the crew "mistakenly believed was a sanitary sewer," according to a release.
MMSD said it notified the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and reported the incident.
The next day, MMSD said Veolia crews plugged and cleaned the impacted storm sewer before reopening it for normal operation. Veolia also implemented a mandatory supervisor verification and approval process, requiring staff to confirm and obtain supervisor approval before decanting vacuum trucks.
MMSD also said it notified drinking water system custodians in the service area and that there is no concern about overflow due to inadequate capacity in the district’s system or basement backups.
According to the release, Veolia has scheduled refresher training for its field crews on proper discharge procedures and verification protocols for the week of March 17, adding that it will "continue to work with Veolia to determine why this happened and ensure that the proper decanting locations are used in future events."
MMSD is a regional government agency that provides water reclamation and flood management services for more than 1 million people in 29 communities in the Greater Milwaukee Area, according to its website.
Veolia Water Milwaukee is contracted by (MMSD) to operate and maintain its regional wastewater treatment system.
The entity operates through a public-private partnership, which ensures public ownership and control while enabling private-sector best practices, technological expertise and operating know-how, according to its website.
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