Jones Island Wastewater treamment facility and Lake Michigan

2050 Facilities Plan

Good planning is the hallmark of good government! It helps ensure that continuous service is maintained, high environmental standards are met, and costs (and surprises) are minimized. In the 2050 Facilities Plan (FP), the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), assesses the condition of its systems, establishes needs for improvement, evaluates options to address the needs of its systems, and identifies the projects and other actions that are required to continue to meet existing and anticipated permit requirements and projected future conditions. This self-assessment has been guided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) requirements, MMSD's foundational goals, and by the MMSD Commission policy direction.

The Goals of the 2050 Facilities Plan:

  1. Comply with its Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) wastewater discharge permit that requires MMSD to periodically issue updated facilities plan to the WDNR.
  2. Ensure compliance with Wisconsin Administrative Code Chapter NR 110.
  3. Meet internal goals, including 2035 Vision and 2050 Foundational Goals.
    • MMSD's 2035 Vision: is composed of two key elements: integrated watershed management and climate change mitigation/ adaptation with an emphasis on energy efficiency.
    • MMSD's 2050 foundational goals:
      1. Change MMSD from an organization that impacts the environment to an organization that benefits the environment.
      2. Incorporate new technologies and operational improvements to minimize MMSD's financial burden on ratepayers. 
      3. Integrate green infrastructure into all facets of development and redevelopment. 
      4. Support urban biodiversity activities within the region.
      5. Provide adaptive leadership to climate change and the other drivers listed above.

 

2050 Facilities Plan Overview:

Biosolids Advanced Facility Plan

Current Status:

The MMSD 2050 Facilities Plan is complete.

Stakeholder and customer input was provided by regular input from MMSD’s
Technical Advisory Team and the Southeast Wisconsin Watersheds Trust ‐ Policy and Science committees.

If you need a higher-res version of the 2050 Facilities Plan, please contact us.

This executive summary provides an overview of the MMSD's 2050 Facilities Plan and provides an outline to help MMSD meet its 2050 Foundational Goals. The purpose of the facilities plan is to document MMSD's existing facilities, identifies current and future needs, and provides a recommended plan to implement projects and programs to address those needs.

This document lists the table of contents for MMSD's 2050 Facilities Plan.

The MMSD 2050 Facilities Plan glossary provides a listing of acronyms used, and a list of terms and definitions.

Chapter 1 outlines the purpose and goals of the 2050 Facilities Plan, provides an overview of the MMSD, summarizes the accomplishments that have been achieved subsequent to the issuance of the 2020 Facilities Plan , and outlines the asset management approach that informed the development of this facilities plan.

Appendix 1A - 2050 Facilities Plan Policy Direction

Appendix 1B - Functional Descriptions of MMSD Asset Systems

Chapter 2 describes the integration of the MMSD's 2050 Facilities Plan with other regional and MMSD organizational plans and activities.

Chapter 3 describes the roadmap that MMSD followed to evaluate its asset systems, identify system needs, and develop the alternative analyses and recommendations documented in this 2050 Facilities Plan.

Appendix 3A - Level of Service

The purpose of chapter 4 is to summarize future demand projections for MMSD’s asset systems by first identifying the drivers that are anticipated to impact asset demand in the future, documenting the projected impact, and describing how demand is being managed as of 2019.

Appendix 4A Conveyance Future Demand

Appendix 4B Water Reclamation Facilities and Biosolids Future Demand

Appendix 4C - Watercourse and Flood Management Future Demand

Appendix 4D - Green Infrastructure Future Demand

Chapter 5 provides an assessment of existing facilities to identify the risks that may impact MMSD’s ability to meet its future goals. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a summary of potential risks in the four failure modes—capacity, physical mortality, level of service, and economic efficiency—for each asset system for the planning period from 2020 to 2050.

Appendix 5A Conveyance Assessment of Existing Facilities and Risks

Appendix 5B Water Reclamation Facilities and Biosolids Assessment of Existing Facilities and Risks

Appendix 5C Watercourse and Flood Management Assessment of Existing Facilities and Risks

Appendix 5D Green Infrastructure Assessment of Existing Facilities and Risks

Appendix 5E Energy Alternatives Selection

Appendix 5F 2018 Urban Biodiversity Plan

The development and evaluation of alternatives is a key element in the facilities planning process. The purpose of Chapter 6 is to describe the steps used to define, develop, and evaluate the alternatives that were evaluated to mitigate the potential risks identified in Chapter 5. This chapter also presents a summary of the recommended projects.

Appendix 6A - Conveyance Alternative Analyses

Appendix 6B Water Reclamation Facilities and Biosolids Alternative Analyses

Appendix 6C Watercourse and Flood Management Alternative Analyses

Appendix 6D - Green Infrastructure Alternative Analyses

Appendix 6E - Systemwide Alternative Analyses

Appendix 6F - Paired Comparison Weighting Process

Chapter 7 presents the recommended plan to meet regulatory guidelines and permit requirements through the regulatory planning period of 2020 to 2040 for this 2050 Facilities Plan.

Chapter 8 presents recommendations to help meet MMSD’s 2050 Foundational Goals, which are broader goals that go over and above the regulatory guidelines and permit requirements.

The MMSD, with the support of local stakeholders, wrote the Urban Biodiversity plan as part of the 2050 Facilities Plan to help protect and restore native biodiversity within MMSD’s planning area through the application of green infrastructure.