Great Lakes states to decide on Waukesha, Wisc. plan to 'borrow' water
Waukesha, Wisc., wants clean water from Lake Michigan in exchange for treated wastewater
The Associated Press Posted: Jun 21, 2016
The small city of Waukesha, Wisc., wants to pull its drinking water from Lake Michigan, despite not being part of the Great Lakes watershed. (CBC File Photo)
Representatives of the eight states in the Great Lakes region are preparing to decide whether a city in the Milwaukee suburbs qualifies to tap Lake Michigan as its drinking water source.
Waukesha, Wisc., says the groundwater wells it has long relied on are contaminated with radium. The city is 24 kilometres from the lake. Because it lies just outside the Great Lakes watershed, it needs permission from all the region's states to use lake water.
The states include Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The city's unprecedented request to draw its water supply from Lake Michigan met some late opposition from U.S. and Canadian mayors within the Great Lakes basin.
The eight Great Lakes governors are scheduled to cast a final vote Tuesday on Waukesha's $207-million-US plan to tap Lake Michigan water and return fully treated wastewater.
The diversion plan requires a unanimous vote by governors or their representatives Tuesday when the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council meets in Chicago.
The Milwaukee suburb, with a population of 70,000, would be the first U.S. community outside the Great Lakes drainage basin to use lake water since a compact to protect the Great Lakes became law in 2008.
Ontario objects
The province of Ontario has taken issue with the plan.
"The Government of Ontario has identified a number of concerns relating to Wisconsin DNR's explanation of how Waukesha satisfies the 'straddling county' exception," Jason Travers, director of the natural resources conservation policy branch at Ontario's ministry of natural resources, wrote back in April.
The Great Lakes support 33 million people, including nine million Canadians and eight of Canada's 20 largest cities, according to the federal government.
Opponents say the city has other alternatives and approving its request would set a precedent that could lead to demands from other communities near the watershed boundary.
Mayors across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin are urging the governors to reject Waukesha's request, including Racine, Wisc., Mayor John Dickert.
"There is clear evidence that Waukesha has reasonable alternatives to provide safe drinking water to its citizens, and I do not want to see their effluent contaminate the Root River in downtown Racine," Dickert said in a statement. "Local government across this region and in both the U.S. and Canada are calling on the governors of eight Great Lakes states to reject Waukesha's application and protect these vital waters we cherish."
Waukesha needs 'healthy, sustainable water'
Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly said none of the alternatives studied were found to be reliable sources for a long-term, sustainable water supply.
"The citizens of Waukesha need the healthy and sustainable water supply that only borrowing and returning Lake Michigan water can reasonably provide," Reilly said in a statement on the city's website.
The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is a binational coalition of 123 mayors and other local officials.
Representatives of Great Lakes states and provinces have given preliminary approval to the Waukesha plan. Last month the regional group agreed that the water diversion application by the city of Waukesha complies with a Great Lakes protection compact if certain conditions are met, including an average limit of 31 million litres a day. The group includes eight states and two Canadian provinces. Minnesota abstained from voting.
The Michigan Senate adopted a resolution last month opposing Waukesha's request.