All of the 1,000 sewered homes located in the GLSD deliver their wastewater to the GLSD’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) located on the Northwest end of the lake through a complex series of piping and lift stations strategically located around Big Green Lake. In all, the District maintains 25 lift stations and over 80 miles of sewer piping to transport wastewater from District homes to the WWTP. During Summer months, the GLSD processes close to 200,000 gallons of wastewater daily from the homes connected to the sewer collection system. The flows from off-peak months (September through May) drop to an average of 50,000 gallons of wastewater per day from the sewered homes. The Sewer Collection System and WWTP are the GLSD’s major responsibility comprising 60% of the District’s annual operating budget.
Approximately 400 of the GLSD’s 1,400 homes are served by private on-site wastewater treatment systems. These systems are comprised of conventional septic systems, mound systems and holding tanks. The GLSD has a State approved management plan for pumping and inspecting all District private on-site wastewater treatment systems. In general, septic systems need to be pumped and inspected at least once every 3 years and holding tanks require pumping and inspection every two years.