Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District history

In 1914, the Sewerage Commission experimented with a new approach for wastewater treatment involving microscopic organisms - the activated sludge method which was being developed in Europe.

Historian John Gurda writes in The Making of Milwaukee, “… after a massive outbreak of diarrhea in 1916, voters decided that it was finally time to stop mixing raw sewage with their drinking water.

While the Milwaukee Water Works had been disinfecting and filtering lake water for drinking since 1919, there was no treatment of sewage, sewers merely funneled waste into the rivers and lake for another six years.

1920 - Sewer construction on W. St Paul in Milwaukee.

These developments led to the formation in 1921 of the Metropolitan Sewerage Commission and the creation of the Metropolitan Sewerage District of the County of Milwaukee.

The department found that 40% of the time the water contained contaminants suggesting that a sewage treatment plan should be built (Hein 4). Finally, in 1925, a sewage treatment plant was built on Jones Island to treat waste water.

Since 1926, MMSD has safely recycled the nutrient-rich microbes resulting from the water reclamation process into Milorganite® slow-release nitrogen fertilizer.

In 1933, construction began on a water treatment plant using coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection to clean the lake water.

Also, Linnwood Avenue Purification Plant was built in 1934 to provide potable water to citizens.

The Linnwood Water Treatment Plant was built on 24 acres of landfill under the bluffs of Lake Park, completed in 1939.

In the summer of 1961, the Linnwood plant recorded its highest single-day production of 267 million gallons.

The Milwaukee Water Works is organized for maximum efficiency, and employs 300 professionals, down from a peak of 570 employees in 1966.

Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Water Works, 1974.

Water use in Milwaukee began a steady decline in 1976, the result of more efficient water use by appliances and commercial machinery, and changes in the industrial landscape.

In turn, this system helps to improve water quality (“Deep Tunnel”). The deep tunnel system was part of a three billion dollar project instigated by a court order insisting that MMSD comply with the Clean Water Act of 1977 to stop allowing sewage to flow into local bodies of water.

After extensive planning and public input, construction on the WPAP began around 1979 to repair and expand the entire metropolitan area wastewater conveyance and treatment system.

>> Jones Island History Report - MMSD 1982

The tunnel is essentially a giant bathtub, 28.5 miles long and 32 feet in diameter, constructed over three phases beginning in 1987.

The first and largest phase went online in August 1993 and produced immediate results.

Prior to 1994, the city averaged 50 to 60 overflows a year.

“The deep tunnel is the backbone to the whole system,” says Shafer, who began working for the MMSD in 1998 after the first phase was completed. “It’s the best piece of water infrastructure in the state of Wisconsin.”

19 Apr 2009 <http:// v3.mmsd.com/TreatmentProcess.aspx>.

MMSD invested another $1 billion in an Overflow Reduction Plan that was completed in 2010.

Average daily pumpage in 2014 was 103 million gallons.

Compare that to Milwaukee’s closest neighbor, Chicago, which endured 37 area overflows in 2017 (despite having a Deep Tunnel of its own).

The Linnwood Water Treatment Plant was named a Water Landmark by the American Water Works Association in 2019.

Average daily pumpage in 2020 was 89.1 million gallons.

2021 Water Quality Report / Reporte de Seguridad del Consumidor de 2021