In response to whistleblower allegations about Veolia’s management of Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District wastewater plants, Milwaukee County supervisors are demanding an independent audit into the company’s operations before MMSD signs off on a long-term contract extension.
Milwaukee County Supervisors Jack Eckblad, Steven Shea, Caroline Gómez-Tom, Sky Capriolo, Felesia Martin, Juan Miguel Martinez, Shawn Rolland, Kathleen Vincent and Justin Bielinski called for the audit May 18 in a joint statement.
“It is in Milwaukee County’s best interest to ensure our wastewater operations are conducted safely and transparently, and to maximize protection of our Lake, our water, and our basements,” the joint statement said.
Veolia North America is the private operator of MMSD’s wastewater treatment system and is one of two firms competing for a 10‑year contract worth up to about $700 million. The subsidiary of the French utility giant Veolia has run MMSD’s treatment plants under public‑private partnership contracts since 2008.
The statement comes weeks after the advocacy group Common Ground and Steve Jacquart, a retired longtime high-ranking MMSD official, accused Veolia North America of mismanagement. The nonprofit organization called for a third-party audit of Veolia during its April 30 event in Milwaukee.
A second whistleblower, Greg Gryskiewicz, spoke at a Common Ground news conference last week. Gryskiewicz, who worked at MMSD wastewater facilities for 15 years before leaving Veolia in 2024, said the company had failed to properly maintain equipment.
After the May 13 news conference, Veolia responded in a statement, “Common Ground made clear today they want to sabotage MMSD’s fair and transparent procurement process for reasons they will not explain.”
The statement from the Milwaukee County Supervisors is the latest turn in an increasingly contentious process. On May 12, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that MMSD planned to hire a company to create a whistleblower hotline for complaints about the operator of its massive wastewater treatment system.
The joint statement from Milwaukee County Supervisors said that move falls short.
“We believe that the management-side HR attorney-led ‘investigation’ proposed by MMSD leadership would be entirely insufficient to address the scope and nature of these concerns with the transparency and accountability that Milwaukee residents deserve,” the statement said.
Common Ground, likewise, objected to the proposal, arguing it was not a good faith effort because the company was hired by the sewerage district.
Throughout the process, Veolia has defended its management record and accused Common Ground of trying to upend the years‑long bid process and damage the company’s reputation.
Pressure builds as bid fight nears fall decision
MMSD is one of the largest publicly owned wastewater systems in the country that relies on a private contractor to run its treatment plants. The sewerage district owns the infrastructure, but a private company operates and maintains the Jones Island and South Shore treatment plants, the Deep Tunnel system, the Milorganite fertilizer plant and the regional sewer network that serves about 1.1 million people.
On May 1, the Journal Sentinel reported that Dallas-based Jacobs Solutions, the other finalist in the bid process, has ties to Palantir, the software company that is helping ICE agents find and deport undocumented immigrants.
Jacobs has told the Journal Sentinel that it treats data privacy seriously and only uses client data under strict safeguards for authorized project purposes.
Veolia and Jacobs submitted their bids for the contract in January 2025. A committee of five former MMSD commissioners, selected by the governing body and approved by MMSD executive director Kevin Shafer, has been guiding the selection process and taking part in interviews and technical reviews.
MMSD will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on June 11. A decision is expected in the fall.
Caitlin Looby covers the Great Lakes and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: clooby@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram @caitlooby.
Caitlin is an Outrider Fellow whose reporting also receives support from the Brico Fund, Fund for Lake Michigan, Barbara K. Frank, and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County supervisors call for audit of MMSD operations
Reporting by Caitlin Looby and Mary Spicuzza, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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