MMSD Commission Chair Proposes Third-Party Audit

Jones Island Reclamation Facility. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

The chair of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s public oversight board plans to begin an audit of Veolia, the private contractor running the district’s two wastewater facilities.

Corey Zetts, chair of the MMSD Board of Commissioners, plans to bring a resolution to her fellow board members in June initiating a third-party audit overseen by the board of commissioners. Her announcement followed a public statement by members of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors requesting an audit by the state’s Legislative Audit Bureau.

“I want to thank the Milwaukee County supervisors who called for an audit of Veolia and MMSD by the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau,” Zetts said. “In the meantime, I’ve directed MMSD staff to bring a resolution to the commission in June to initiate an independent, third-party performance audit of Veolia Water Milwaukee to investigate allegations that Veolia is not properly maintaining MMSD infrastructure and, by doing so, created unsafe working conditions. This performance audit will be overseen by the MMSD Commission.”

The community organization launched a campaign in April based on a number of alarming allegations from whistleblowers who have worked at the sewerage district’s wastewater treatment facilities at Jones Island and South Shore. The group alleges Veolia is mismanaging the sewerage systems to save money, letting equipment fall into disrepair and running the facilities under capacity during heavy rainfall, increasing the risk of sewer overflows and basement backups.

Veolia has held the contract to operate the MMSD facilities since 2008. The sewerage district is in the middle of a public procurement process for the next 10-year contract, which begins in 2028 and is valued at about $700 million. The contract will be awarded in September. Veolia is up against Jacobs Solutions, a Dallas-based engineering services company.

“MMSD is in the second year of a procurement process to select one of two companies to operate and maintain the district’s infrastructure for 10 years,” Zetts said. “Both companies are qualified. The winner has not been predetermined. MMSD’s commission will be making the final decision.”

This is the second audit proposed by MMSD representatives. Initially, the sewerage district attempted to launch an investigation of the allegations with a consultant, Lake Effect HR & Law, but Common Ground called it a “sham” intended to identify the confidential whistleblowers.