MMSD Announces $13 Million Water Tech Lab

MMSD South Shore Water Reclamation Facility. Photo courtesy of MMSD.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) announced plans for a $13 million water research laboratory in Oak Creek.

The new lab will study new technologies to improve wastewater treatment and will allow researchers, local businesses, scientists and inventors to conduct tests at the scale of a working water treatment plant. The new facility will also bolster the effort of the district and other local institutions to turn Milwaukee into a global hub for water technology.

“This facility marks the latest progression in Milwaukee’s long history of wastewater and water technology innovation,” said Kevin Shafer, MMSD Executive Director. “The new technologies have incredible potential to increase energy reuse, improve filtration, prevent sewer overflows and save millions of dollars for ratepayers.”

The sewerage district plans to break ground on the new laboratory in 2026 at its existing South Shore Water Reclamation facility, 8500 S. Fifth Ave. in Oak Creek. Once it’s up and operating, the new lab will test two promising water filtration technologies that are untested at scale.

If successful, the technologies could save $90 million over 20 years, decrease chemical usage in water treatment, reduce sewer overflows and basement backups. It could also increase waste-to-energy production, which involves capturing energy from landfills or the waste treatment process and using to reduce the system’s overall energy use.

The initial testing will be carried out with support from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Energy has granted $3.9 million to the project and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency another $1.2 million, according to MMSD officials.

The technologies that will be tested in Oak Creek will also likely end up replacing the processes and equipment in place at MMSD facilities. Specifically, during the second stage of treatment called “primary clarification.” At the MMSD facility in Oak Creek, the primary clarifier equipment was installed in 1968. Most of the supporting equipment was added 20 years ago and is nearing the end of its life-cycle.

The laboratory will prove critical for a local consortium of water technology researchers and firms led by The Water Council. The council has developed what it calls Water + Energy Forward, which is an “industrial innovation engine” aimed at bringing funding into Milwaukee to develop and bring to market water and energy resiliency technology. This could bring an estimated $160 million in National Science Foundation grants to the region over the next decade, according to MMSD.

“Once again, MMSD is showing its leadership in developing wastewater technologies that will help reduce carbon emissions and preserve critical freshwater resources,” said Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of The Water Council in a statement. “This facility is a huge step in the development of the Water + Energy Forward engine.”