Protecting Our Most Valuable Resource, Water

April 14, 2026

Wet Weather Impacts

With severe wet weather conditions in NEW Water’s service area last night and continuing into this evening, our community’s shared sanitary sewer system has been inundated with stormwater. At its peak, NEW Water’s system received about 214 million gallons per day; on average, we treat 41 million gallons per day. This is more than 5 times the average flow.

The NEW Water team worked throughout the evening in the treatment facilities and collections system to ensure continuous service to the 15 municipalities we serve in Northeast Wisconsin.

• Flooding issues continue in much of the collections system, and the team is working with partners to mitigate impacts.

• At the treatment facilities, the team continues working to protect the integrity of the system to ensure wastewater treatment remains stable.

• We’re continuing to monitor weather forecasts and impacts.

This significant increase in flow is not due to people flushing their toilets more – it’s due to inflow and infiltration, or I&I. It is important to note that the sanitary sewer system is not designed to treat “clear water,” or stormwater. Essentially, our community is paying for clean water to be cleaned.

Learn more here about I&I here, and how you can help >>

 Infographic credit: Town of Gilbert, AZ (Minor edits made to graphic