Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) is leading the way on green infrastructure solutions in the Greater Milwaukee Watersheds, demonstrating the benefits they provide for improving stormwater
runoff quality and reducing quantity. MMSD is a regional government agency that provides water reclamation and flood management services for about 1.1 million customers in 28 communities in the Greater Milwaukee Watersheds. MMSD serves 411 square miles that span parts of six watersheds. Besides these core responsibilities, MMSD also handles water quality research, household hazardous waste collection, pharmaceutical collection, industrial waste monitoring, laboratory services, planning and engineering services, and the production of Milorganite®—a fertilizer trusted by professionals for more than 80 years.
As part of its Water Pollution Abatement Program (WPAP), MMSD invested $3 billion in grey infrastructure over three decades through the mid-1990s. Before 1994, when the Deep Tunnel System and other WPAP improvements went into operation, the MMSD sewer system had between 50 and 60 overflows per year, with an annual average volume of 8 billion to 9 billion gallons of overflow. Today, that number is down to only about two overflows per year, with an annual average of one billion gallons of overflow.
MMSD was finishing a $1 billion Overflow Reduction Plan that included additional Deep Tunnel system capacity, sewer construction and rehabilitation projects, treatment plant improvements, scientific research, and planning. The entire effort was scheduled to be finished by the end of 2010.