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Frequently Asked Questions?

Do you have questions about NEW Water? Below are some common and important questions we receive from the community, answered by NEW Water staff.

NEW Water Facility Plan Questions

Learn more from the Public Information Meetings: Q&As about NEW Water's Facility Plan; questions received from the community. Learn more about NEW Water's Facility Plan >>

Have a question?

If your question isn’t answered below, please contact NEW Water here!

Q: What am I paying for on my sewer bill? Does NEW Water bill me directly?

A: If you are hooked up to a municipal sewer system in Northeast Wisconsin, your municipality (city, village, town, etc.) likely sends you a sewer bill for services to take away whatever you flush, dispose, or pour down the toilets, drains and pipes in your home. In Green Bay, for example, sewer services are combined with the bill from Green Bay Water.

Q: How much wastewater do you treat?

A: On average, we treat about 41 million gallons per day (MGD), with 33 MGD at the Green Bay facility and 8 MGD at the De Pere Facility.

NEW Water takes and cleans the wastewater from these communities and sends it back into the environment. For these services, NEW Water charges the same rate to each municipal customer. Those municipalities will likely have different rates for their residential customers because they may need to include additional charges on your bill in order to cover their costs such as operations, maintenance, and administration.

If you have questions about your bill or what you are being charged, please contact your municipality directly.

Q: Can you drink the wastewater after it has been cleaned?

A: No. While our final effluent is safe to recycle back to the environment, it is not treated to meet drinking water standards.

Q: Do you offer tours of the facility?

Q: Does the water freeze in the winter?

A: No, with an average flow at the Green Bay facility of 21,000 gallons per minute, the water does not have a chance to freeze.

Q: Is there a concern with equipment freezing in the winter?

A: The majority of our equipment is located in over three miles of underground tunnels in order to protect it from our changing seasons.

Q: I have a sewer smell in my house. What should I do?

A: We recommend putting water in all of your drains to see if the smell goes away. If it doesn’t, try to note what direction the wind is blowing when you smell it and when the smell began. To locate the source, and solve the issue, we would recommend contacting a plumber, and/or your municipality (Not sure which municipality you live in? If you’re in Brown County, check their municipality website).

Q: Why shouldn’t I cover manholes?

A: If manholes are blocked or covered, inspections cannot take place. Clear and unobstructed access to this critical infrastructure is needed in order to continue to provide service to your home, your neighborhood, and our community.

Q: Why do you place flags? Can I move them to mow?

A: NEW Water is a member of Diggers Hotline and required to place flags or green paint when a locate request is near our underground infrastructure. For safety purposes, it’s important that these remain in place, in order for any digging work to occur without interrupting underground utility lines (sewer, water, electrical, etc.).

Q: What is a meter station?

A: A Meter Station is a building or small hut that sits on top of a sewer pipe and contains a flow meter, sampler, and small fridge. The flow meters collect flow data 24/7 for billing purposes and the Field Services team will collect samples from these buildings for our Lab to process.

Q: Are you part of the City of Green Bay?

A: No, but the City of Green Bay is a customer of NEW Water. NEW Water is the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, and provides services for 15 municipal customers. See our service are map here. For the City of Green Bay, the Green Bay Water Utility provides award-winning drinking water services, learn more here.