Waukesha Water Meeting Tuesday - - The Highs And Lows

The Waukesha Common Council met as a committee of the whole to kick off the eventual filing of an application for a Great Lakes diversion.

There was an excellent presentation by author Peter Annin on the history and politics of Great Lakes diversions, and that included his useful warning to Waukesha, presumably the first community to apply for an out-of-basin diversion under the Great Lakes Compact, to expect a "brutal" process.

Annin knows his stuff and explained to Waukesha with a power point the value of the Great Lakes and the precedent-setting position the city was in.

Check out his website.

And there was an informative presentation by a DNR staffer, Shaili Peiffer, who explained the multi-step application process, which optimistically is measured in months.

I was disappointed that Mayor Larry Nelson did not allow his water utility staff to address questions that dealt with specific issues already raised by Waukesha and other public officials, such as the potential size of the diversion sought, or return flow.

Nelson said those questions would wait for a later meeting, but with the city's council and water utility commissioners present, along with the public and at least one reporter, Tuesday night would have made a fine beginning of the broader discussion, too.

And one more thing: with water as the sole item on the agenda, here's an appropriate question: does anyone in Waukesha City Hall water the plants?

Those two big dead potted plants (at least one Hibiscus) by the windows outside of the council chambers offer a pretty grim welcome.