Check out these headlines from South Milwaukee and the South Shore …
- South Milwaukee Discharging Untreated Waste To Lake (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- Developer Plans To Build Storage, Retail Facility Off Lake Parkway In Cudahy (Journal Sentinel)
- New Cudahy Mayor Hopes Development Will Finally Gel (WUWM)
- Former Cudahy Firefighter Pleads No Contest To Sexual Assault (Fox 6)
- OSHA Cites Cudahy Plant For Violations (BizTimes.com)
- Oak Creek Police, DNR Investigate Animal Harrassment Case (Fox 6)
- Mayor Supports Effort To Reform County Government (Patch)
Also, state Sen. Chris Larson has published a new Larson Report.
South Milwaukee Blog 
Re: South Milwaukee discharging sewage: Assuming that a very miniscule percentage of citizens of SM are aware of the half-capacity situation and leaky laterals, would it make sense for the Water consortium including city engineering and health dept. to send out an emergency mailing immediately to all citizens requesting curbed water use as much as possible over the projected length of the project and especially during this heavy rain period being forecast? Would the postcard include awareness-building suggestions for how to cut back on water use such as…
*shortening length of showers;
*flushing guidelines around the old saying “if it’s yellow, let it mellow”;
*doing only full loads of laundry, and seldom;
*fixing leaky pipes;
*reducing flow while dishwashing by hand;
*shutting off flow while brushing teeth;
*replacing old high flush toilets with new, well-engineered low-flush models;
Finally, might this information have been shared PRIOR to construction on the water treatment system and within its own mailing?
I agree with Quercus above. Given the construction, citizens should have been informed and educated on how to help minimize water usage. I didn’t hear about the construction until the discharge happened. Also, if this has the potential to reoccur, perhaps South Milwaukee can think about implementing a rain barrel program like MMSD’s rain barrel program.
I spoke with our Wastewater Treatment Facility superintendent today, and water conservation efforts in a significant storm like last week’s (or perhaps the one coming this week) likely would not make a difference in preventing discharges to the lake. The flows are simply too huge during some of these storms, even if our system wasn’t currently under construction (limiting capacity). The bigger issue for us — and many other sewer utilities — is inflow and infiltration to the system. And solving that is complicated, and costly.
I also was told that the new equipment they are installing as part of the ongoing construction project will increase our treatment capacity. Hopefully that will help things in years to come, reducing overflows.
Thank you Erik for your follow up.