Walker's Point residents complain of sewage odors from Jones Island

Don Behm | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A fast-growing neighborhood on Milwaukee's near south side with new restaurants and costly condos is located a stone's throw from the state's largest sewage treatment plant — and its unpleasant odors.

Walker's Point is the only city neighborhood that can boast all three major rivers — Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic — flow around its borders. It is cheered as a walkable and bikeable environment that draws people outdoors.

As sure as some people moving to rural properties eventually complain of manure smells from the third-generation farm down the road, some of the residents who have moved into Walker's Point in recent years are questioning why sewage odors from the 1920s-era treatment plant on Jones Island invade their space.

In emails earlier this month on the nextdoor.com social network, one neighborhood resident wrote: "This smell can't be healthy for the residents."

Roberto Rivera wrote this about the rapidly changing neighborhood: "Still can't believe people are paying top dollar with this poor and probably noxious air quality."

Last week, another posted on the service. "I made the mistake of having my car window open as I exited off the highway," the resident wrote. "I'm not going to stop complaining about this until it gets fixed."

Alpha Jalloh is a member of the board of directors of the Walker's Point Association and co-chair of the group's residents committee. In December, he read a few email messages from a few residents on a social network complaining of sewage odors.

He invited those residents to attend the December committee meeting to air their complaints since the association serves as an advocate for Walker's Point residents and businesses, Jalloh said.

He has lived south of National Ave. in the neighborhood since 2013. When asked if he notices sewage odors, Jalloh replied: "Now and again."

Committee meetings inform residents of new housing and commercial developments in the neighborhood, and provide a forum to discuss persistent problems such as a shortage of parking in the area, he said. Jalloh said he expects Jones Island odor complaints to become a regular part of the discussions.

Even so, the Walker's Point Association's annual plan for 2016-'17 does not identify sewage odors as an issue that needs to be addressed. A neighborhood strategic plan published in June 2015 makes no reference to sewage odors as a problem.

One goal of the association's residents committee is to gain an understanding of whether the odors are toxic or just unpleasant, Jalloh said.

The Walker's Point neighborhood generally extends from the Menomonee River, Menomonee Canal and Milwaukee River on the north to Mitchell St. on the south. S. 10th St. is the west boundary. The Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic rivers form the east boundary.

The sprawling treatment plant and its Milorganite fertilizer factory are located on the north end of Jones Island in the Milwaukee harbor. Sewage has been treated there and Milorganite has been produced there since the 1920s.

At Jalloh's request, Patrick Obenauf represented the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District at a February committee meeting.

He encouraged residents to call MMSD when they smelled sewage odors so that the district could send out crews to determine whether Jones Island was the source, Obenauf said. He is contract compliance manager for the district.

No calls of odor complaints have come in, Obenauf said.

The district has received two odor complaints in the past decade, according to Obenauf. His review of call records found one complaint in June 2012 and one in October 2015, he said.

For the committee's June meeting, Obenauf provided a PowerPoint presentation on possible odor sources and phone numbers to call with a complaint. He plans to attend a July 10 committee meeting to review the presentation and take questions.

In the presentation, Obenauf identifies some of the possible sources of sewage odors at the plant: primary treatment tanks and sewer-cleaning debris. Another possible source of odors is the 350-foot stack at the Milorganite sewage sludge fertilizer factory.

Sludge dryers and other production processes inside the factory, however, are subject to air pollution control permits. Those permits require MMSD to monitor emissions and meet specific limits on the amount of chemicals, particles and metals released to the air, Obenauf said.

In the primary sewage treatment step at Jones Island, wastewater is pumped into one of eight uncovered circular tanks located west of the Hoan Bridge. Each tank is 160 feet in diameter with a capacity of 1.8 million gallons.

Municipal public works crews and contractors drop off leaves and other debris vacuumed out of catch basins at street sewer drains. This debris is stored uncovered within concrete walls directly beneath the Hoan Bridge.

It would cost MMSD and property taxpayers in its regional service area an estimated $19.5 million to fully cover the eight primary treatment tanks, said Obenauf. Such covers are being studied as part of the district's developing 2050 facilities plan. The plan will list priorities for major construction and maintenance projects.

Constructing an enclosure atop the catch basin debris storage area would cost an estimated $1.6 million.

Obenauf would prefer to confirm which sources of odors are being carried inland to Walker's Point before the district spends millions of dollars, he said.

For that reason, he is giving neighborhood residents his personal telephone number so they can call with the time and location of an odor complaint and describe the smell and its intensity. Rotten eggs? Ammonia? Composted leaves?