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Modernizing our wastewater system

Starting in 1969, the Council and the old Metropolitan Sewer Board (later renamed the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission) moved forward with the development of a modern regional system for the collection and treatment of sewage. At the time, the municipal sewage treatment system operated jointly by Minneapolis and St. Paul was inadequate to meet the needs of developing suburbs.

Newer suburbs that could not gain access were struggling to build waste treatment plants of their own. Inadequately treated waste was being dumped into the Mississippi River, Lake Minnetonka and other regional waterways. And the region's groundwater was being contaminated by failing septic systems. In 1959, the state Health Department found that half of the private wells in 39 communities were contaminated with septic waste.

The new system inherited 33 municipal treatment plants, only four of which were capable of providing adequate treatment. Within a decade, 21 of these plants were closed and four new plants were built.

In the mid-1980s, the region embarked on a $322-million, 10-year effort to separate combined storm and sanitary sewers in Minneapolis, St. Paul and South St. Paul. These combined sewers were resulting in the overflow of millions of gallons of untreated waste into the Mississippi River during major storms. Along with continual improvements in regional treatment plants, the sewer separation program has contributed to significant improvements in the river’s water quality, aquatic life and bird habitat.

Today, the region is served by a system of eight regional treatment plants and 600 miles of regional interceptors serving more than 100 communities. It regularly wins national environmental awards while helping to maintain rates 25 percent below those of similarly sized systems.

“Our wastewater system is one of this region’s great success stories,” says Council member Russ Susag, who worked as an engineer for the system during its early years. “In my lifetime, we have gone from discharging raw sewage into the Mississippi River to the magnificent treatment system we have today.”