MMSD Works

Or does it?

John Rondy in the Shepherd Express on the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District

What MMSD’s critics fail to acknowledge is that since the Deep Tunnel came online in late 1993, annual releases have gone from 50 to 60 overflows per year down to an average 2.2 combined sewer overflows per year, with about 1.1 billion gallons of partially treated sewage released into the lake. That compares to 7 billion to 9 billion gallons released into the lake annually before the advent of the Deep Tunnel.

What MMSD's defenders fail to acknowledge is that it has not shown that the Deep Tunnel was preferable to separating combined storm and sanitary sewers. Green Bay separated its combined sewers and it's been reported it hasn't had Milwaukee's continuing overflow problems.