Area municipalities are preparing their sanitary sewers ahead of the NFL Draft, April 2, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s something most people don’t think about on a daily basis, but area municipalities are preparing their sanitary sewers ahead of the NFL Draft.
Typically, when Green Bay hosts Packers games, it’s only for a few hours on about 10 days per year. But the NFL Draft will be testing the city’s limits.
The Green Bay Public Works Department has a lot of work to do ahead of the draft to make sure the city’s sewage system is ready. They’ve begun flushing out pipes to prepare for the influx of people.
With around 250,000 fans expected to come to Green Bay for the draft, there will be a lot more waste over the three-day event than the city of 107,000 is used to.
“What we’re anticipating is three game days back-to-back-to-back, so if we can handle it on any game day, all we need to do is make sure we’re ready to handle it on three successive days,” Green Bay Public Works Director Steve Grenier said.
Grenier said the high volume of people is nothing the city’s sanitary sewers can’t handle. He said they have an aggressive inspection program to check on all pipes, using closed-circuit TV cameras to check conditions inside the sewer.
Right now, the city has shifted its focus from other parts of Green Bay to the stadium district.
“We want to make sure that the pipes that lead away from the stadium area in general, that we got capacity in those lines to get that waste off to the waste water treatment plant with new water,” Grenier said.
Grenier said folks may start noticing sewer jetter trucks out cleaning the city’s pipes. It’s something he said is key in making Green Bay as ready as possible for the national spotlight.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so it’s critical for all of us that this event happens and that it goes through seamlessly,” Grenier said.
Similarly, the village of Ashwaubenon is working to ensure everything’s ready to go so pipes can flow at full capacity. Crews there have already performed a special cleaning of all pipes around the draft campus.
Green Bay plans to have more intense sewer prep work in the immediate area of the draft campus the week of April 14.
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