How the Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility revolutionized Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- What started as a marsh island between the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic rivers, has become a full-blown industrialized peninsula in Milwaukee. For over a century, a facility in Jones Island has pioneered the way cities clean their wastewater.

"Any water you use in your house or your business that goes down the drain, down the shower stall, down the toilet, even the floor draining in your basement, that all goes out to the sanitary sewer system and it goes out to the street where it connects to a village or municipal sewer first," explained Bill Graffin, the public information manager at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

Just blocks from Downtown Milwaukee lies Jones Island. Initially, settled by Kashubian and German immigrants in the late 1800s who built a fishing village on it and made a living fishing in Lake Michigan.

"At some point the city needed a much better wastewater treatment system than it had because people were dying, there was an outbreak of Tuberculosis and some other nasty things," Graffin said.

The industrialized area exudes a mysterious, and rather peculiar smell, which would be fermenting poop.

Graffin occasionally gives tours at what is now known as the 'Jones Island Water Reclamation Plant.'

"You're looking at four billion dollars over the last three decades and it's made a huge impact in a positive way," he said.

The facility cleans wastewater, and returns the clean water back to Lake Michigan. In fact, Milwaukee was a pioneer in this--becoming the first city in the country to do so since the 1920s.

"It's extremely important not only for protecting Lake Michigan and our rivers but this facility and another one like it down in Oak Creek, helps protect public health as well by cutting down on the number of diseases that used to take place because there was no waste water treatment," Graffin went on to say.

A CBS 58 News crew went on a tour with Graffin. He showed and explained how the water undergoes four basic steps. Starting with screening large pieces of garbage.

"We take out big rags and anything that can get flushed or into a sanitary sewer," he said.

The second step involves primary clarification.

"It goes into these big huge settling tanks that you'll see, they're pretty massive and what happens in those tanks is solids sink to the bottom, oil and grease float to the top, we skim that oil and grease off and dispose of it properly," he added.

From there, the water goes to the microscopic organisms in stage three.

"A white appearance at the top, that's aeration from bubbles, the microscopic organisms like their living conditions just right and they require a lot of oxygen," he explained.

And lastly, these organisms are left to break down the organic material by eating it.

"From there the water goes to here, to the disinfection area where we add a chlorine byproduct and we have to add another product to take that chlorine byproduct out before it can go to Lake Michigan just down here on the side of this wall," Graffin said.

After the waste is dehydrated, fermented and dried, a product named 'milorganite' is made.

"For Milwaukee, Organic, Nitrogen, that's where the name came from," Graffin explained.

The fertilizer has been sold across the nation since 1926.

In addition, Graffin explained that under normal conditions, it can take a drop of water 24 hours to get through the entire plant. That's about 30 to 50 million gallons per day at each plant..

"We've captured and cleaned 98.5 percent of every drop of water that's gotten into our regional sewer system," he said.

For context, Graffin says nationally, the goal is to capture and clean 85 percent and there are communities that don't even reach that.

The facility has been a huge investment in the region.

"The investments that have been made, all the hard work that's gone into this facility, to the sewer system, to a lot of other projects and programs, has helped reduce the number of overflows, water pollution..."Graffin said.

Graffin noted that another $2.2 billion are lined up in projects and maintenance over the next decade.