Common Ground leaders gathered at the lakefront today to hear from a second whistleblower regarding the mismanagement of the MMSD wastewater facilities by the international, for-profit company, Veolia.
Common Ground (CG), a powerful, non-partisan alliance of 45 member institutions across greater Milwaukee—including congregations, schools, non-profits, small businesses and neighborhood groups—has been conducting an investigation of the management practices of Veolia since December 2025. Their investigation was sparked by an anonymous whistleblower letter in 2023. That whistleblower, Steve Jacquart is a former, high level, 19-year MMSD employee who pointed out that the MMSD wastewater treatment plants are not running at peak efficiency and thus needless amounts of sewage are being dumped into our basements, our rivers, and Lake Michigan.
On April 30, 177 CG leaders heard testimony from a wide range of sources regarding many alleged mismanagement practices on the part of Veolia. CG called on the MMSD Board of Commissioners to authorize an independent, third-party performance audit of Veolia’s management practices.
“Instead of authorizing an independent Performance Audit, MMSD has attacked Steve Jacquart’s character and said they are ‘totally confident’ in Veolia,” stated Bob Connolly, Co-Chair of the CG Water Team, referencing a statement from MMSD Commission Chair, Corey Zetts, and recent comments by MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer.
“Today,” continued Connolly, “we are hearing from one of the 9 new whistleblowers who have come forward since April 30. MMSD said Mr. Jaquart is not credible because he ‘had nothing to do with the day-to-day operations of the wastewater system.’ Well, they can’t say that about this source.”
This second whistleblower, Greg Gryskiewicz, had 15 years of experience working in all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the MMSD wastewater facilities. Mr. Gryskiewicz left Veolia in 2024. Today, he publicly shared a 7-page report on the mismanagement practices of Veolia and the potential danger it poses to our communities.
Mr Gryskiewicz’s report outlines many reasons that the MMSD wastewater facilities do not run at full capacity: equipment and maintenance failures as well as inadequate staffing levels.
Mr Gryskiewicz contends that, “Existing equipment along with District-funded equipment is not properly maintained… this cycle of ‘run to fail and not fix’ has led to complete asset destruction.” Mr Gryskiewicz continues: “There is absolutely nothing resembling urgency towards fixing things. Downtime doesn’t cost Veolia money, so presumably the more time things are spent not working the more money they save. Further, many equipment work orders disappear with no trace, many are closed out without being fixed and many are rejected for absolutely no reason.”
On the issues of staffing and safety, Mr. Gryskiewicz writes: “…Veolia has taken exorbitant amounts of time to fill vacant positions. Unqualified people with no experience have been put in positions of running the power houses at both facilities. Understaffing is a direct result of elimination of job positions to the point there are not enough people to do the jobs.”
“Upper management has no idea what’s going on in the facilities for three reasons,” wrote Mr. Gryskiewicz:
- “They literally don’t leave their office.”
- “Most have never performed any job at the facility.”
- “They don’t listen to anyone below them, and they don’t have meetings with the workers.”
About the report, Connolly said: “Mr Gryskiewicz’s report verifies what Common Ground has heard from 24 other current and former employees. The patterns of poor maintenance, falsified documents, understaffing and much more are the reasons needless amounts of sewage are polluting our lake and backing up into our basements.”
Thus far, MMSD has had conflicting responses to CG’s pressure. Initially, Mr. Shafer said MMSD is “open to an audit,” but needed more details. However, just days later, he told WUWM that MMSD is “totally confident” in Veolia before then announcing a whistleblower hotline. CG also shared an internal email leaked from Joe Tackett, CEO of Veolia North America, telling Veolia employees: “Perhaps the most powerful testament to the strength of our work and our partnership with MMSD is this: MMSD is standing with us.” Co-Chair of the CG Water Team, Brandon Pinion, explained, “Clearly MMSD is not interested in a real performance audit to learn the truth.”
Common Ground has now interviewed 25 current and former MMSD and Veolia staff, who have all made similar allegations. The organization said it is prepared to bring more forward and it is exploring additional avenues for an evaluation of Veolia’s management.
Common Ground has not taken a position on which company—Jacobs or Veolia—should get the contract. CG is non-profit, non-partisan, and financially independent.
Anyone with first-hand knowledge of Veolia or MMSD’s mismanagement can call Common Ground’s whistleblower hotline at (414) 751-0755.
Contact: Bob Connolly at bconnolly@jamescompany.com or 414-491-5910
Website & Video: commongroundwi.org
Logistics: Wednesday, May 13, 3:30-4:00 pm
Pierhead Lighthouse, Milwaukee (behind Am Fam Amphitheater)
Background: Greg Gryskiewicz Whistleblower Report
Other documents:
CG Request for Performance Audit
Veolia’s contract with MMSD is the largest public-private wastewater treatment contract in North America.
CG previously created the Water Drop Alert System, which MMSD now operates.
