DNR Not Ready To Review Diversion, Say Waukesha's Consultants

Waukesha is proceeding with its application for a Great Lakes diversion, but with the ink barely dry on the Great Lakes Compact and state enabling legislation, is the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fully-staffed and geared-up to handle its complex role in the application's drafting and review?

Consultants hired by the Waukesha Water Utility to help write that city's precedent-setting Lake Michigan diversion application said in October that the new Great Lakes Compact "has added new requirements that Waukesha must meet before proceeding with the completion of the application," but the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources "has not had time to promulgate rules or draft guidance concerning the application" are related matters."

Susan Hill and Jeff Edstrom, working for GeoSyntec, an Illinois consulting company, made the observations in an October 9, 2008 letter to Waukesha Water Utility general manager Daniel Duchniak.

The utility provided the letter, and other documents about its Lake Michigan diversion planning, last week.

The letter explained why GeoSyntec was seeking additional 2008 funding from the utility.

The next day, October 10, Duchniak told utility commissioners in a separate letter that he was recommending that GeoSyntec's 2008 contract be boosted by another $54,00o, bringing the 2008 total to $183,400.

[The utility's 2008 meeting minutes do not appear online this weekend (2007's are all there), and when I find the link to those 2008 minutes about the contract change, I will post that.]

GeoSyntec laid out in its five-page letter the work it would provide under the amended contract, including more meetings with the DNR, the regional planning commission (SEWRPC) and environmental groups on the diversion application and on water quality, supply and wastewater treatment plan matters.

The key paragraphs of the GeoSyntec letter (I will post it as a link when it's converted to a pdf):

"The passage of the Compact legislation in Wisconsin has added new requirements that Waukesha must meet before proceeding with completion of the application. Our discussions with DNR staff over the past summer confirm that three additional products/activities will need to be completed to support the application: 1) revisions to the Waukesha Wastewater Facility Plan, 2) development of a Water Supply Service Area Plan, and 3) discussion/negotiations with DNR and the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission regarding effluent limits and regional water quality issues.

"Because Waukesha will be the first community to move with an application from with a straddling county under Act 227, DNR is very cognizant that they will be setting precedent. The Wisconsin legislature passed statutes requiring the additional products; however, DNR has not had time to promulgate rules or draft guidance concerning the application and the Water Suppl;y Service Are Plan. As a result, DNR has been understandably careful to provide Waukesha with clear guidance on how the application and supporting documents should be assembled."

Later, GeosSyntec's personnel note "In order to better develop a final application, it is necessary to have close communication with DNR staff. With staff changes at the DNR as well as a new statute that does not have precedent applications, it will be necessary to meet more frequently with DNR staff."

GeoSyntec has been a Waukesha contractor for several years, and has been paid in the $75,000 to $100,000 range annually. It works closely with the public relations firm Martin J, Schreiber & Associates and the Reinhart law firm, too.

The total billings for these consultants, and two more that lobby in Washington, DC for federal funds, exceeds a half-million dollars since 2000.

When I get a better total, I'll pass that along.