Waukesha Public Hearing on Proposed Great Lakes Diversion

On Monday, March 8th at 7 PM, the Waukesha Common Council will hold a public hearing on its draft application for Great Lakes water in the Council Chambers at Waukesha City Hall (for general information on the Waukesha Water situation see the recent JS-Online article). 

Waukesha City Hall is located at 115 Delafield St. in downtown Waukesha. The public comment session will be proceeded by an open house from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Residents and other citizens are able to make verbal public comments at this meeting, and can also submit written comments by March 26th to: Lori Sweet, Waukesha Water Utility, 115 Delafield St, Waukesha, WI 53188. 

We encourage our members in Wauwatosa and Milwaukee to also come learn about Waukesha’s proposed diversion and offer comments, especially if you live along Underwood Creek or the Menomonee River!

Milwaukee Riverkeeper will be making formal comments.   Our major concerns right now include the following:

• Ensuring successful implementation of the Great Lakes Compact, and ensuring that Waukesha’s application meets the provisions of the Compact and our State implementing legislation (Act 227). Given that there are no state rules for implementing the Compact, there will be considerable room for interpretation by the WDNR of key Compact provisions. Thus, Riverkeeper and our partners have pushed for a comprehensive, fully vetted Environmental Impact Statement (or EIS) as part of any diversion application. We are pleased that the DNR has determined that they will conduct an EIS on Waukesha’s proposed diversion when they get an application.  

• Showing of no reasonable alternative water supply. According to Compact provisions, Waukesha needs to show that they have no reasonable alternative water supply. An EIS will ensure that there is a comprehensive analysis of all of the alternatives available to Waukesha and the environmental and economic costs and benefits of each.

•  Analysis  of quantity of water requested by Waukesha.   In addition, there should be further analysis of the quantity of water being asked for by Waukesha, which is  double their current daily maximum use, to ensure that Great Lakes water is being used responsibly to address a legitimate public health issue and not fuel unsustainable growth.

• Analyis of return flow options.  We are also hoping that an EIS will require equal consideration of a variety of return flow options. Currently, Waukesha has only analyzed the impacts of returning treated wastewater to Underwood Creek as an option for returning flows back to Lake Michigan.  Given the possible impacts on both water quality and quantity of Underwood Creek and the Menomonee River, an EIS should ensure that there are no other reasonable alternatives, and that any return flow scenario be protective of the physical, chemical, and biological quality of receiving waters.

Click here for a copy of our most recent Coalition letter to DNR outlining our concerns with the application and suggesting a comprehensive public participation process (see attached PDF)

Copies of the Waukesha application and supporting materials can be found here: http://www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/web/guest/futurewatersupplyinfo

DNR’s website on the Waukesha diversion (they are currently accepting comments on the “scope” of the EIS or what it should consider): http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/WaukeshaDiversionApp.htm