NEW Water News

NEW Water has completed a strategic planning process, which highlights collaborative regional leadership, education, and sustainability as operating principles.

 World Water Day was March 22, and Earth Day is around the corner!  Looking for ways to love the earth, and to help protect our waterways?  Joining a Fox River cleanup and building a rain garden are two examples of what you can do.

In June, the NEW Water Commission approved Contract 34 for construction of the new solids handling facility, Resource Recovery and Electrical Energy, or R2E2, with groundbreaking slated for late summer.  With 97% of costs now in, engineers have updated the total capital cost of the project to be $169 million.  Read the latest update on the project here.  On June 4, a quarterly update was held with the Stakeholder Advisory Group.

NEW Water staff would like to remind you to “Love Your Pipes” this holiday season! Only the “3Ps” should be flushed, and fats, oils, and grease should be placed in the trash, not down the drain. Watch our staff rendition of “O Love Your Pipes” to the tune of “O Christmas Tree”.

NEW Water’s Resource Recovery and Electrical Energy (R2E2) Project construction has launched! NEW Water is on the path toward resource recovery. The new solids handling facility will harness materials sent to the facility to generate electricity, heat, reduce costs, and create a fertilizer to bring in additional revenue.

"Gumming up the works"

What shouldn't get dumped down the drain?  Oil, fats, grease, wipes, dental floss... these items can lead to homeowner backups and clog up equipment at NEW Water.

R2E2: ground preparation underway 

Underground utilities are currently being relocated at NEW Water's Green Bay Facility, in preparation for the 2015 construction of the Resource Recovery and Electrical Energy (R2E2) solids handling facility.  Pictured above is a 3D rendering of the new solids handling building, which will house the fluid bed incinerator.

Congratulations Charlie Frisk! 

Congratulations Charlie Frisk, the "NEW Watershed Champion" for 2014! This extraordinary educator led students and community efforts to revive Baird Creek, which is quickly becoming one of the Midwest's preeminent urban parks. NEW Water and the Green Bay Water Utility launched the award as part of its first annual World Water Day event. Brown County Executive, Troy Streckenbach, and Green Bay Mayor, Jim Schmitt, also were awarded with certificates of appreciation for their water quality improvement efforts. 

Reviving the "Dead Zone"

Green Bay's "Dead Zone" - a swath of oxygen-deprived water - has appeared in the news lately, calling attention to a problem requiring a community-wide solution. NEW Water is already on the case.

For its part, NEW Water is combating the dead zone by implementing "Adaptive Management," (AM) a community-wide approach to reducing phosphorus runoff into waterways.