Community Water Services

The Civil Rights Movement laid bare how Black, Brown, and women-owned businesses were systematically shut out of public contracts. The equity goals public agencies use today exist to correct that history and ensure economic opportunity isn’t limited by race or gender.

For decades, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District - MMSD has been a model for others, developing policies aimed at increasing SWMBE (Small, Women and Minority-owned Business Enterprise) participation. But today, MMSD chose to go backward.

Citing non-binding “guidance” from the US Department of Justice, the MMSD Commission voted today to eliminate goals for awarding contracts to women- and minority-owned businesses. This decision locally follows a broader political effort to dismiss well-documented discrimination and to dismantle policies designed to address it.

We applaud the leadership of Bryan Kennedy as the sole commissioner speaking out and voting against the change today.

Milwaukee must stand up to this attack on decades of progress and insist on policies that address discrimination and move decisively toward justice. We must actively address past harms and expand opportunities now. We will not back down.

Together, we will take two steps forward toward justice and not one step back.

Do you have a lead service line OR want to learn how to reduce your risk of lead in your drinking water?

Look up your address to see if you have a lead service line at Milwaukee.gov/water or call Milwaukee Water Works Customer Service at (414) 286-2830.

Also check out this post to learn how you can reduce your risk of exposure to lead in your drinking water if your home has a lead service line or lead plumbing and fixtures.

This week our young water ambassadors, Victoria Crowley-Washington and Cam Roundtree, and Milwaukee high school summer interns in our water program helped clean McKinley Beach following last week’s historic flooding.

It wasn’t a normal beach clean up day though because our interns were hands on using the BeBot, a plastic cleaning robot that removes plastic from the beach. Not only did they learn about the precious freshwater resource in our backyard but by removing trash, they helped keep Lake Michigan safe from waste.

Everyone has a role to play in keeping our waterways safe and we’re happy our interns and young water ambassadors are making a difference by preventing harm to our waters and public health. Special thanks to Cheryl Nenn, Katie Rademacher, Chris Giddens, and Milwaukee Riverkeeper for making the BeBot available to our youth.