Milwaukee group wants audit of wastewater treatment system, MMSD open to it but cites few specifics

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A grassroots alliance in Milwaukee is alleging major mismanagement at Milwaukee's water treatment facilities.

Common Ground held a news conference Thursday evening, April 30, where a whistleblower spoke about his concerns.

Common Ground says there are enough concerns to warrant an independent audit before a new contract is signed.

MMSD said they'd absolutely be open to it, but they've been given few specifics.

A company called Veolia has managed MMSD's facilities since 2008, operating the Jones Island and South Shore treatment plants and maintaining more than 300 miles of sewers and the "Deep Tunnel" storage system.

Steve Jacquart worked for MMSD for 19 years and in 2023 came forward with a whistleblower letter. He claims mismanagement, breakdowns, and reduced capacity have caused "unprecedented problems."

That spurred Common Ground to speak with 16 current and former employees of MMSD and Veolia.

Common Ground says those employees told them "South Shore does not run at peak efficiency during storms," and "is unsafe for workers because of lack of maintenance."

Jacquart told the crowd, "I think that a much better approach for dealing with big problems is to get the information out to the public. Get it all out. And then solve the problem."

We took some of those concerns straight to MMSD's executive director.

Kevin Shafer defended Veolia's management of the city's wastewater facilities, saying the numbers prove it.

Shafer says their contract has served the community well both in saving taxpayer money and in performance.

The city's threshold for waste in water is half of what the federal government allows, and Milwaukee still has not reached it in the past year under Veolia.

Shafer said he's gotten few specifics from Common Ground and there has been little communication. The group would not share any of their concerns with MMSD before their event.

Still, Shafer said an audit would be a fine idea. "We're totally open to the third-party audit if that is something that they can define the scope for. I would take that to the commission and the commission would be very open to doing that. But I don't want to waste taxpayer dollars on an audit if I don't know what the audit is auditing."

Veolia sent a statement, saying the whistleblower is neither an engineer nor a plant operator, and he has a fundamental lack of understanding of wastewater treatment.

Veolia went on to say, "Common Ground’s event this evening featured a mix of false, unsubstantiated and overstated claims about Veolia, which Common Ground admitted during the event they could not verify. Veolia has treated hundreds of billions of gallons of wastewater in Milwaukee since 2008, maintaining a 99.95% permit compliance rate for effluent quality while consistently outperforming state mandates and stricter MMSD contract standards. While Common Ground pushes misinformation, Veolia’s hundreds of employees continue working around the clock in partnership with MMSD to protect public health and our waterways."

This fall MMSD will decide on a new, 10-year contract for a company to operate its water treatment facilities. Veolia is one of two companies to submit bids.