[Music] This week we'll be
exploring the societal impacts
of heavy precipitation in and
near the Great Lakes watershed,
with a focus on communities that
get their public drinking water
from one of the Great Lakes
and manage stormwater
and wastewater near
the Great Lakes.
We'll be taking a tour
of the Jones Island Water
Reclamation Facility.
In fact, we're in the
control room right now.
Then we'll be talking to Kevin
Shafer, the Executive Director
of the Milwaukee
Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Can you explain to everyone a
little bit what the Milwaukee
Metropolitan Sewerage District
does and what you do for MMSD?
Sure. I'm a civil engineer
by background, bachelor's
and master's degree
in civil engineering,
but I've been running
the district
as Executive Director
since 2002.
I have about 250 people
that report to me.
What we do is we try to manage
as much of the water cycle,
hydrologic cycle, as we can.
So we are not the
drinking water utility,
but we handle all the wastewater
in the region,
and we do flood management.
We try to help the communities
with stormwater
management as well.stormwater
The region is around
411 square miles.
It's right on Lake
Michigan; 1.1 million people,
28 different municipalities.
We're working constantly,
and really my job is,
working constantly with a
lot of the elected officials,
the public to just, number
one, understand the importance
that they have on
clean water but also
to understand what MMSD does.
We treat all the wastewater that
comes to… that's used in a house.
So when someone flushes
a toilet, takes a shower,
any of that water goes
into a series of pipes.
The drain comes down to our two 
water reclamation facilities.
We clean that water,
and discharge it back
into Lake Michigan.
I know you said you don't do
the public drinking water,
so that whole area also gets
their public drinking water
from Lake Michigan;
is that correct?
Yeah. The city of Milwaukee,
and there's two other utilities
in the region, that
pull drinking water
from Lake Michigan.
They treat that water so
it's drinking water quality.
They pump it to the
residences, companies,
industry in the region.
They use that water and then
the water is returned to MMSD
where we treat the water and
discharge it back into the lake.
So it's its own little
closed cycle That's nice.
It stays in the watershed.
Yes. It's sustainable.
Yes. That's great.
Do you mind explaining the
difference between a community
that lives near the Great Lakes
and uses the Great Lakes water?
Obviously, it's more
than Milwaukee.
There's Chicago.
In fact, where I grew
up, Saginaw, Michigan,
gets their water from Lake
Huron, but the difference
between one of those communities
and something like Madison,
MMSD Madison where we're
not by a Great Lake.
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage
District is doing some wonderful
things with water,
wastewater treatment,
and looking at the
watersheds as a whole.
The difference between Madison's
Sewerage District and ours,
the processes to treat the
waste is pretty much the same,
but in Madison they get
their water from an aquifer.
It's groundwater that's pumped
up they treat for
drinking water.
People use that water, discharge
to the wastewater system,
which then treats it and
puts it back into a river
and it flows downstream.
A lot of places downstream
from that river can use
that same water again
then for drinking water.
So it's just always
reuse, always recycled.
Here in Milwaukee we take our
water from the Great Lakes,
and there are about
1500 utilities
around the Great Lakes
that use lake water.
We're very fortunate
to have this beautiful,
clean supply of drinking water.
We need to make sure that
we manage it sustainably.
We take that water out.
We treat it to drink.
People use that water, and it
goes into our wastewater system.
We treat that water and then
discharge it back to the lake.
So it's kind of a closed loop,
as far as the water supply goes.
I do think sometimes because
we're such a water-rich area
that people are not as
concerned as they could be
about needing to
live sustainably.
I noticed on your webpage,
I was cruising your webpage,
that you have actually a lot of
initiatives for rain gardens,
rain barrels, green
infrastructure.
Can you talk a little bit about
that and why it's important
for communities to consider it?
Sure. Well, one of the
issues that we always deal
with as an urban community
is heavy rainfalls.
When that rainfall hit the
concrete, the asphalt, or roofs,
everything, it runs off.
It collects pollution, but it
also can run off into pipes,
and then we have overflows
if we get too much
water in the system.
What we are trying to do
is intercept that water
on the surface, and put it
back to basically trying
to mimic nature within
a very urban setting
and collect the runoff
from a roof.
You might have a green
roof on that roof,
so that will hold
some water as well.
Then collect that runoff into a
rain barrel or cistern to hold
that water until
the storm passes.
Then that water can
overflow into a rain garden,
which infiltrates
back into the ground
and puts it back
into the groundwater.
We try to use nature to cleanse
that urban stormwater runoff
that we have but also reduce
the volume that's getting
into the pipes that's
causing these problems.
All right.
I can see that is
very important,
and I also think
the rain gardens
like you said reduces
the runoff and kind
of captures it for our aquifers.
It keeps it in our basin.
In communities like Madison
where they're utilizing
that aquifer for their
drinking water supply,
it's very important
to try to replenish
that as much as we can.
Right, which is really great
because you keep the
water in the watershed.
I think one of the
issues in Madison is that,
when we discharge
it into a stream,
it actually leaves
our watershed and goes
down to the Gulf of Mexico.
That's one reason I think
that I think you're promoting
rain gardens and rain barrels,
so that people conserve
the water and keep it here.
Right. Can you explain the
rain garden a little bit,
how that works?
Sure. All a rain garden is, is
an area that's deeply tilled.
You'll dig down with, you
know, 18 inches to 2 feet,
backfill that area
with a more porous soil
so it will allow more
water to go into it,
and then you plant
it with vegetation
that has longer roots.
If you look at the roots for
grass in lawns and so forth,
the root system is very shallow.
These plants have
deeper roots systems,
so that allows the water
to flow through those roots
down into the groundwater
better.
It really allows us to
replenish that aquifer as much
as we can with stormwater.
I would like to talk
a little bit
about the National
Climate Assessment,
and you probably
observed this is
that heavy precipitation
events are increasing.
I'm assuming that that has
been some challenges for MMSD.
Well, that's my life,
trying to predict
and manage rainfall events, so
it is a huge part of what we do.
So the climate study really did
keep me up a few nights worried
about how we were going
to move into the future,
and how we were going
to manage that water.
We took that national study
and we actually worked
with the UW School of Freshwater
and the Southeast Wisconsin
Regional Planning Commission
and asked them to really
drill it down to the region.
We know what the
national picture is.
We know what the
state picture is.
How is that going to
impact the Milwaukee region
because that is what I do.
They were able to take this
data and do some modeling,
and really what they came
back to us was we're going
to have warmer winters
so we're going
to have more rainfall events in
months like this which is going
to be a problem, more
snow melt issues.
Then, when we do have rainfall,
it will be very flashy
peak storms that occur,
and then we'll have a
dry period afterwards.
I'm a firm believer that we're
already living through some
of the climate change that
they've predicted, July 22,
23rd of 2010, we had
about a 700-year storm
in the northwest
side of the city.
I was sleeping here in my
office that night trying
to manage the water
as much as we could.
There was just so
much water that hit;
it was flooding streams,
it was flooding basements.
We had a sinkhole formed
that an SUV went down in.
The airport was closed,
wasn't it, for like 2 days.
Which is like I've never
heard of that.
The tunnel filled up.
We have a 521-million gallon
storage vessel 300 feet
underground called the Deep
Tunnel, and that tunnel filled
up in something like 4 hours.
You know, it was just
that heavy of a rainstorm.
We managed as much as we could,
and after that storm
we had 6 months
of just hardly any rain at all.
So it was almost exactly the
way [inaudible] and the School
of Freshwater said it would be.
We still have large storms,
we've had a couple
but none like that.
2004 was the time before that,
that we had a huge storm.
So as you can tell they're
kind of tattooed in my brain
when we have these big storms.
Because you work straight for
a week or so around the clock?
We have a wonderful system
here, and it does a lot
to improve water quality, but
when you get that much water,
you just can't afford
to have a system capable
of handling a storm like that.
So it's just a really hard
event to live through.
You did mention the Deep Tunnel,
and I'm fascinated
with the Deep Tunnel.
And I think that most
of the participants
in this MOOC would also love
to learn more about that.
Can you talk about that?
It came online in
August of 1993,
and a lot of people don't
realize it's been operating
for 20 years.
Since the Deep Tunnel has come
online, it's captured
and cleaned 98.3% of all the
water that's come in the system.
When we read about overflows,
it's that 1.7%, not the 98.3%.
The federal government says you
have to be greater than 85%,
so it does much better than the
permit requirements are on it.
What the Deep Tunnel is,
it's just a big bathtub
300 feet underground.
We have 130 different pipes
that fill that bathtub,
and it all drains down to
our Jones Island Reclamation
Facility where we have three
16-million gallon-per-day pumps
that pump the water up
into the treatment plant
where we treat it and
discharge it back into the lake.
It really tries to
store those peak events
until the storm passes, then we
pump the water out and treat it.
In 2014 just last
year we captured 99.5%
of everything that came to us.
Using that?
It's exceeded all
expectations for benefits.
Actually, you know, the water,
the wonder that we're
experiencing here in Milwaukee,
a lot of it is due
to the Deep Tunnel
because we now have fish
migrating up the rivers,
because the rivers aren't as
dirty as they were before.
We're really trying to manage
that pollution and that quantity
of rainfall during those
big events to a point
where we're starting
to see industry return.
We're starting to see businesses
return along the waterfront.
We're really starting to see
people's quality of life go up,
because the recreation
and the ability
to enjoy nature is really huge.
Which is one of the reasons
many of us live here at all,
not at all but we
just love the lakes.
We want to either
swim, fish, whatever.
We enjoy the natural
beauty of the Great Lakes.
I really think everything
you guys do is great.
MMSD Milwaukee is (sorry
to add the Milwaukee
because of MMSD Madison) is
really on the cutting edge,
and I really appreciate
how you protect the lakes.
We're continuing to do it.
You know, in the 1960s, the
way to manage floods was to put
in concrete lining
on the creeks.
It just made it worse.
It actually did.
You're right.
It made it worse.
Now we're in the process of
ripping that concrete out,
so we're naturalizing
the waterways.
Actually, this last fall,
which is just amazing I've
been here almost 15, 16 years.
Last fall was the first
time we've had salmon
up in Menomonee Falls,
which is in the headwaters
of the Menomonee River.
So we're starting to see salmon
start to return to the rivers
through some of the work
that the district
and others are doing.
It's a group effort.
We can't do it by ourselves.
Right. Which is back
-- a teeny bit back
to the whole green
garden, rain barrel thing.
MMSD is making a big
difference protecting our lakes.
But even though individual
efforts are small,
when they're collective,
it helps,
makes your job easier I think.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
You know, a lot of people,
when I came to Milwaukee,
a lot of people thought,
"Well, the Deep Tunnel is going
to solve all our problems and
the wastewater plant is going
to solve all our problems."
It's just not true.
You know, you can only build so
much, and then you can only do
so much with a regional
system like that.
You've really got
to drill down into
that individual neighborhood,
individual property owner,
and get those folks
to understand
that they have an impact,
and it really is important
how they manage that water.
It helps their neighbors,
and helps the watershed.
Well, thank you, Kevin.
I really appreciate
this whole discussion
and everything you're doing.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
And, again, welcome
to Milwaukee.
Thank you.
So Kevin mentioned
the Deep Tunnel,
which is a very unique facility
to protect Lake Michigan.
We get to go on tour,
a private tour
at the Jones Island
Facility led by Joyce Harms.
I'm Joyce Harms, and I'm the
Community Relations Manager here
for Veolia Water at
the Jones Island Water
Reclamation Facility.
This facility has been
in operation since 1926.
It's one of two facilities
of about the same size,
that serve the greater
Metro Milwaukee area.
These two facilities
combined can treat upwards
of 600 million gallons per day
of wastewater that's generated
by the 1.2 million people
that live in the area.
It's here at the
primary clarifiers
where the solids are
settling to the bottom,
which cleans the
water up to about 60%
of being totally clean.
This facility can treat
about over 300 million
gallons every day.
However, when we get more
wastewater or stormwater coming
at us than we can treat in
a day, it's at that time
that we put the Deep
Tunnel into operation.
We're standing right outside
the elevator that's going
to take us 300 feet
into the ground,
down to the Deep
Tunnel pump room.
Once we get there, we'll
see the large pumps
that service the Deep Tunnel,
but we need to travel 300 feet
down into the ground
before we get there.
We're standing in the
Deep Tunnel pump room.
This is where the massive pumps
are located that pump wastewater
that was generated from a recent
storm, back up to the surface
to be treated through the
wastewater treatment process.
The water ended up in the
Deep Tunnel because of storms
that come through creating
stormwater runoff,
that in some areas joins the
wastewater stream, that is more
than the wastewater
treatment plant can handle
at any one time.
These massive pumps, each
of which can pump 60
million gallons a day,
pump the wastewater that was
generated during the storm back
up to the surface to be treated
through the regular
wastewater treatment process.
[Music]