We are a passionate and experienced resource recovery team that aims to protect public health and the environment.
Established in 1930 to protect the lakes and streams of the upper Yahara watershed, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District serves about 407,000 people in 25 Madison-area customer communities covering about 187 square miles. We treat about 36 million gallons of wastewater at the Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant daily.
In the City of Madison, the largest community the District serves, known sources of PFAS contamination are Truax Field Air National Guard Base and the Regional Airport due the use of firefighting foams at these sites.
Work is underway by various agencies, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Air National Guard, Dane County, and City of Madison to address this PFAS contamination. This contamination is linked to PFAS being found in stormwater discharge, area wells, and nearby surface waters.
Wastewater treatment plants are not original sources of PFAS and do not add or have the capability to remove these chemicals during the treatment process. But due to the ever-present nature of PFAS in our environment, there is undoubtedly PFAS in the wastewater our facility receives and recovers.
The District is committed to better understanding PFAS in the wastewater treatment process, helping to fill gaps in current PFAS knowledge with sampling and analysis, and doing our part to minimize PFAS in our resource recovery work.