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The City of Milwaukee Wisconsin continues to dump its sewage into Lake Michigan, contaminating drinking water for states and societies that use Lake Michigan Water. Mayor Daley of Chicago has complained for years to no avail about Chicago having to clean up after Milwaukee's negligent dumping.

Here is an article, one of many on the web, which documents yet another reason we need to take responsible control of our drinking water assets.

Source: http://www.gazettextra.com/sewagedumping060404.asp

DNR issues notices of violations for Lake Michigan sewage dumping
(Published Friday, June 4, 2004 09:37:32 AM CDT)
Associated Press MILWAUKEE --

The state took the first step toward legal action Thursday against the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and six area communities for allegedly dumping sewage illegally into Lake Michigan during heavy rains.

The Department of Natural Resources issued notices of violation against MMSD, which oversees Milwaukee's sewage system, the city of Milwaukee, Cudahy, Whitefish Bay, Elm Grove, Hales Corners and West Allis.

The DNR will meet with the alleged violators Monday, said Mary Schlaefer, a DNR executive assistant.

Schlaefer said after state officials meet with the alleged violators, there are several options. The DNR could determine no law was broken, could take corrective action, or refer the issue to the state attorney general for possible forfeitures.

The maximum fine is $10,000 per violation.

In a statement, MMSD spokesman Bill Gaffin said the agency will cooperate fully with the DNR.

"We are fully committed to solving these problems," he said.

The notices said MMSD had 31 violations from March 29 to May 22, Whitefish Bay had five May 14, West Allis had one May 25, Cudahy had three May 14, Elm Grove had one May 22, Hales Corners had two May 22 and May 23, and the City of Milwaukee had 16 from April 27 to May 25.

The DNR had previously issued notices to Brown Deer and Fox Point, which had one dumping May 10 and Bayside, which had two April 21 and one on May 10. The DNR was still assessing the May dumpings in Mequon and Thiensville.

MMSD reported dumping 4.6 billion gallons of untreated wastewater last month, including nearly 500 million gallons from separate sanitary sewers that serve newer parts of Milwaukee and nearly all its suburbs.

MMSD's operating permit prohibits most dumping from sanitary sewers, although it allows up to six instances of dumping of the more diluted sewage from combined storm and sanitary sewers that serve central Milwaukee and half of Shorewood.

The city of Milwaukee and 11 suburbs served by MMSD dumped another 3.4 million gallons of untreated sewage at 29 locations in May.

Last month, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called for an audit of the city's sewage system. He said the audit also would look at the deep tunnel system, a network of tunnels beneath the city that serves as a huge holding tank during heavy rains. It was completed in 1993 for $2.8 billion.