Sewer service area planning is a process designed to anticipate a community's future needs for wastewater treatment. Sewer Service Areas (SSAs) are areas in and around existing communities that have the capacity to provide sewer service, making them suitable for development. SSA boundaries represent the outer limits of planned urban growth over a long-term planning period. This planning helps protect communities from adverse water quality impacts through development of cost-effective and environmentally sound 20-year sewerage system growth plans.
The Brown County Planning Commission and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approve sewer extensions and sewage treatment facilities based on SSA boundaries. SSAs are also included in other plans so that local, regional, and state agency decisions can be coordinated, consistent, and capable of achieving desired growth and development patterns.
Sewer service area planning plays an important role in keeping Wisconsin’s water safe for drinking, recreation and diverse aquatic life. Sewer service area planning is not intended to restrict a community’s growth, obligate wastewater treatment plants to provide sewer throughout the planning boundary, or affect community annexation policy. Planning accommodates future growth, while at the same time consolidating wetland, shoreland and floodplain protection programs within a community-based plan for sewered development.
Communities develop sewer service area plans to create a logical structure for wastewater treatment. The plan is a first step for many communities in developing a 'nested' management scheme: the SSA Plan reflects the goals and objectives of regional, comprehensive or master plans and facilities plans and subsequent plans and specifications for sewer lines provide the detailed engineering for the community's wastewater needs. Together, these plans support the state's Areawide Water Quality Management Program, of which Sewer Service Area planning is one component.
Sewer service area plans are developed for individual communities and for multiple communities served jointly by one wastewater treatment plant. The plans use 20-year population projections, local density standards and an inventory of areas identified as environmentally sensitive for projecting and evaluating wastewater treatment and collection system needs for 20 years into the future. Participating communities are thus planning for future growth versus reacting to unanticipated demands.
Sewer service area plans incorporate and support local land use plans, employment trends and development trends. Land needs, commercial/industrial uses, and residential uses are projected and accounted for in the process. Property owners and local governments within the sewer service area benefit from environmentally safe, low-maintenance, and cost-effective wastewater treatment. Community sanitary districts benefit by identifying the wastewater system improvements necessary to meet future growth projections.
