MMSD working toward program to fix leaky laterals

Detailed guidelines on how the $151 million allocated by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s program to fix privately owned leaky laterals will be available by mid-December, according to a staff lawyer.

The district called for the spending in response to widespread sewage backup problems that destroyed or damaged thousands of homes during this summer’s storms. The work will be done over the next decade.

The money will not fix all the leaky laterals and the district is honing the plan in an effort to get the best result from the money it will spend, said Katherine Lazarski, a lawyer with the district.

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Among the details to be worked out, the district is attempting to determine which neighborhoods in each of the 28 communities served need the work the most, she said. The guidelines will also look at whether the amount a community is allowed to spend on designing and planning and whether the district, because of economies of scale, can save money by coordinating some of the work, Lazarski said.

The board that oversees the district has to decide if the communities will have to contribute money to the program and whether private property owners will be assessed a portion of the bill that, on average, will be about $7,500.

On Friday, Lazarski asked that representatives of the communities and the commission that oversees the district comment on the guidelines by Nov. 22.

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– Marie Rohde