Sewage Dumped Into Lake Michigan, As Heavy Rain Continues

More sewage was dumped into Lake Michigan today, as sewer systems tried to keep up with heavy rains in Eastern Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District was among those dumping. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says the district again chose lake discharges of partly treated sewage, versus having waste back up into local basements.

“They are trying to do everything they can. We are all trying to do everything we can to limit discharges into the lake, but also to make sure that we don’t have basement backups as well.”

Barrett says the Milwaukee sewer’s deep tunnel system has added more than 100 million gallons of capacity during his time as mayor, and the city has spent more than 200 million dollars in improvements to better control stormwater and sewage. But he says this week, the area is dealing with Mother Nature.

Other parts of southern Wisconsin are dealing with road closures near swollen rivers and some flooded lands. Racine County declared an emergency to handle flooding conditions described as potentially dangerous.