Milwaukee’s current wastewater treatment contract holder, Veolia Water Milwaukee, is under fire, with some calling for an audit.

Advertisement

It goes without saying that Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) is an essential community asset.

Recently, MMSD has been in the news and not in a good way. The MMSD Commission voted to approve an audit of the district’s private wastewater operator. This is less than six weeks after the community organization Common Ground launched a public campaign calling for an audit of Veolia Water Milwaukee, alleging mismanagement of the Jones Island and South Shore wastewater treatment facilities.

I was briefly on a six-member MMSD advisory committee for the 1998 United Water Services contract. Now 28 years, and 2008, 2018, contracts later, the question is what firm to hire for the 2028 contract. I read Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Urban Milwaukee articles, whistle-blower letters and other materials and jotted down concerns listed below (there are others):

• Veolia cut corners on treatment time and process chemicals
• Veolia allowed MMSD assets — buildings and process equipment — to deteriorate
• Veolia provided inadequate staffing
• Employees, particularly those who questioned management, were treated poorly
• Reversing these conditions will be very expensive, if it is even possible to do so

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee city workers have been working overtime and on weekends to patch potholes in what is shaping up to be a record year for that type of work. But for many residents, the patching is not enough.

The city’s Department of Public Works has received more than 18,000 requests for pothole service so far in 2026. Workers have already filled more than 10,000 potholes this year — right around what the city has averaged annually over the past five years.

Following a winter marked by repeated freeze-thaw cycles and a spring that brought additional weather-related challenges, city officials held a news conference Thursday with an update on the situation.

Raneissa Baker, a driver on Milwaukee’s north side, said her car is currently in the shop with suspension damage she says will cost her $1,100 — the result of the sheer number of potholes she has hit this year, not any single one.

“Streets are horrible, and every time that you hit a pothole, all you hear, doo doo doo doo doo,” Baker said.

Watch: Milwaukee residents demand permanent fixes as city logs record pothole repairs

Milwaukee reports high number of pothole requests

Baker said avoiding the craters is not an option and potentially dangerous depending on traffic.

“It’s impossible to try to avoid it,” Baker said.

At the news conference, TMJ4 asked DPW Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke what his message was for drivers like Baker who have had their cars damaged and spent thousands of dollars on repairs.

“The first thing I tell the public is please pay attention. If you focus on driving ahead of time, a lot of times you can avoid potholes on the roadway. We know they exist. We know it’s frustrating,” Kruschke said. “If you do have some sort of damage to your vehicle, there is a claim system that you can go onto the city website and file a claim.”

Baker pushed back on that response.

“He said to pay attention and try to avoid it. How are we going to be able to avoid it if you’re driving and there’s a car right here, and there’s a pothole right here? How am I going to try to avoid that?” Baker said.

Patrick Housfeld, who lives on South 12th Street, said the problem on his block is nothing new.

“This wasn’t new this year; this has happened for 21 years straight,” Housfeld said.

Mike Beiermeister

Housfeld has stopped using 12th Street altogether and believes more craters will soon reemerge after the latest round of patching. He called the work on his block performative.

“Make the problem go away. I don’t care what the numbers were or are,” Housfeld said.

Both Baker and Housfeld want more permanent solutions than pothole patching.

Road reconstruction, however, is expensive — running into the millions of dollars depending on the work required.

“You fill it up with Oreo crumbs today, it’s a bigger sinkhole by tomorrow, it’s not making sense, just repair the roads,” Baker said.

DPW estimates it still has about 5,000 potholes left to patch. The city says it will be all hands on deck until that work is complete.

The department says residents can report potholes or repair concerns through Milwaukee’s Service Request page or by calling the city’s Unified Call Center.

Report here: https://city.milwaukee.gov/ReportPotholes

Call here: 414-286-CITY (2489)

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.

Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.

Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip

The Milwaukee Public Museum has now packed 600,000 items from its collection of 4 million as the staff prepares to move them into their new home: The Nature & Culture Museum of Wisconsin at 1310 N. 6th St.

The staff could still be working through 2027 to move the remaining items, said Collections Move Project Manager Sara Podejko on June 24.

“We will continue packing here even after the future museum opens,” Podejko said.

According to the museum’s June report to the County Board’s committee on parks and culture, construction continues to move along on track, and the new site is expected to open mid-way through 2027.

About half of the total collection has already been inventoried, a painstaking process that has given the museum the opportunity to streamline its electronic storage system.

“There’s been a lot of work ongoing in the collections departments prior to digitize their material, but not everything was. And so, a real upside to this move is that we are able to not only inventory, but barcode all of our specimens,” Podejko said.

That barcode allows collection move technicians to easily input items into an inventory spreadsheet and immediately relocate them.

“It kind of eliminates some human error, which is really important when you’re dealing with four million things,” Podejko said.

Twenty-nine staff members are facilitating the move, including the technicians who were hired and trained specifically to move the artifacts.