Update 5/6:
On May 5, WUWM's Susan Bence met with MMSD executive director Kevin Shafer. He says he’s “totally confident” that Veolia is properly managing the Jones Island and South Shore wastewater plants.
"The treatment plants are platinum-rated treatment plants as far as national standards. They operate well below the state and federal requirements and the Milorganite that we put out is a Class A quality, so it’s a good product and it’s safe,” he says.
“So, I have not had a concern that Veolia has caused an additional overflow. I have not had any concerns about what they’ve done has caused basement backups. What we’re seeing is just heavier rains the last two years, examples April of ’26 and August of ’25. And you know, everyone’s going to have issues when you have that much rain – 15 inches in August and five to seven inches in April," Shafer adds.
The MMSD has hired a Madison-based legal team and Shafer hopes to set up a meeting with Common Ground.
“They’ve said that there’s like 15 former Veolia and MMSD employees, or active, I don’t know who. And we don’t want to know who. But we have a law firm that we’ve never dealt with out in Madison that’s going to meet with Common Ground and try to meet with these 15 individuals. Because they’re asking us to do a performance audit, but we don’t know what we’re auditing, we don’t know what the issues are totally,” he says.
Shafer says MMSD also wants to hear what people think about the next 10-year contract with Veolia that’s under debate. A public meeting will take place Thursday, June 11 at 5:30 pm.
“Originally, we had decided to do it as part of one of the ad hoc meetings during the morning, but because of the concerns raised by Common Ground, we decided to do it in the evening, just to see if there’s more people that want to come to that. I mean, you don’t award a $60 to $70 million-a-year contract and not ask the public for their input. We don’t do that,” Shafer says.’
Bob Connolly with Common Ground says this week letters signed by 175 Common Ground members are being delivered to the MMSD’s eleven commissioners.
They comprise the independent commission that’s tasked with overseeing MMSD. Milwaukee’s mayor appoints seven of the commissioners. The rest are selected by mayors and village presidents from the remaining municipalities in the MMSD’s serves.
Connolly says more whistleblowers are coming forward to raise concerns about Veolia’s management of our wastewater.
He hopes to convince the commissioners to take Common Ground’s call for an audit seriously.
Original story:
Local advocacy group Common Ground is calling for an independent, third-party audit of Veolia, the company that holds the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's contract to run the MMSD's two wastewater treatment plants. Common Ground believes the wastewater that’s treated and returned to Lake Michigan is not being treated properly.
On Thursday evening, a whistleblower made public his allegations that the sewage system is being mismanaged by Veolia. Steve Jacquardt addressed a meeting of Common Ground members, saying his concern for Lake Michigan and the health of the community compelled him to speak out about Veolia’s performance. “The decision to go public with information showing the mismanagement of our sewage system has been a tough and emotional one for me,” he says.
Jacquardt was MMSD’s intergovernmental coordinator from 1994 to 2023. He echoed Common Ground's call for an audit of Veolia. "I keep thinking about the safety of the many thousands of people who enjoy our beaches and waterways. I think about how we get our drinking water from Lake Michigan,” he says.
Veolia has managed the Jones Island and South Shore facilities since 2008. MMSD’s board of commissioners is deliberating whether to renew Veolia’s contract for another decade.
Common Ground has been around for nearly two decades. It represents diverse organizations including congregations and neighborhood groups from around the city. On Thursday, about 275 members filled the War Memorial Hall along Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan shore for the meeting where they heard from Jacquardt.
He says MMSD’s wastewater treatment plants aren’t being maintained to operate at full capacity, which means the water being returned to Lake Michigan contains higher levels of bacteria. And when storms strike, there’s an increased risk of sewage overflows and basement backups.
“The last overflow that we had was 2.7 billion gallons. During that storm, South Shore wastewater treatment plant in Oak Creek was only running at 83% capacity. That was just the peak capacity. It was below that for a lot of that storm. The MMSD spokesperson said that on public radio. What was also reported in the Journal Sentinel during that overflow lasted 112 hours. That’s more than four and a half days,” Jacquardt says.
People who attended the Common Ground meeting signed letters calling for a third-party audit of Veolia’s management.
Bob Connolly is one of Common Ground’s founders. His closing statement was met with applause.
‘We don’t know what happens next because we have to wait for the reaction. We have to wait and see whether or not they’re going to be reasonable and the board of commissioners have the power and authority to authorize a performance audit. It’s well within their ability, well within their power. We just don’t know whether they’ll do it yet. We’ve had conversations with almost all of them. They needed to see what we had. They needed to meet Steve. They needed to hear our testimony before they’re going to act and we don’t know how they’re going to act. So we’re going to leave with a degree of uncertainty. But we’re leaving with the knowledge that Common Ground never gives up, we never go away,” Connolly says.
Common Ground plans to deliver them to MMSD Commission Chair Corey Zetts. Zetts issued a statement after the Common Ground meeting. It says, in part:
"If there was any credible evidence of mismanagement of billions of dollars of our public infrastructure, the company would not be on the short list for another 10-year contract. The Commission is committed to continuing the contract procurement process in a fair, transparent, and balanced manner to best serve our water quality, community, and the tax payers. During the years in question, MMSD and Veolia captured and cleaned the following percentages of water and wastewater:"
In a statement Thursday night, MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer said, "I’m very disappointed to learn my former coworker, Steve Jacquart, has made these accusations. Especially 10 years later and in the final weeks of the procurement for the next company to operate and maintain the regional wastewater system. Steve never said anything like this to me until I read it today. He was our Intergovernmental Relations Coordinator which is a position that had nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the wastewater system. His only knowledge would come from hearsay." Shafer continued, "MMSD has not seen any of the documentation to support the claims from Common Ground that information was withheld from MMSD’s Commission. MMSD is an open book. We do not hide issues from our Commissioners or the public. Of course, MMSD is willing to perform a 3rd party review, but we first need to better understand the specific accusations being made against Veolia."
Veolia, meanwhile, issued this response to the Common Ground gathering:
"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."
Two additional whistleblowers came forward during the Common Ground meeting, saying they also have information to share about Veolia's performance.
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