Waukesha Water Application For Great Lakes Water, As Posted, Is A January Draft

Two weeks ago, the Waukesha Water Utility told me that when it is finished with edits suggested by the City Attorney, an application for a diversion of Great Lakes water would be posted on its website.

Readers of this blog know through multiple postings - - sample, here - - that while the Waukesha Common Council approved the application at its April 8th meeting, a final version has not been released or sent to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The DNR review will be only the first involving all eight Great Lakes states; additional discussions and permissions related to the application must be completed with potential water-selling communities - - if all eight states assent, Waukesha is free to make a deal with either Milwaukee, Oak Creek or Racine - - as well as with Wauwatosa, where Waukesha's plan locates the discharge point for effluent to be returned, via Underwood Creek, to Lake Michigan.

So I checked the Waukesha website today - - link here - - and find that the posted application is still a January 28th version, with four appendices missing.

And directs readers to the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission for two appendices: how useful is that?

I know there is a hard copy draft dated April 2010, but I have yet to compare the two.

So I think it's fair to grade the application, so far, as incomplete.

If and when the final application is posted, let's pose these questions:

Will Waukesha's Common Council and the general public get another look at it before it goes to the DNR?

The water utility says the April 8th Council resolution does not require resubmission, but the resolution doesn't bar it, so why not indeed do it?

Will it be posted and written in a way that any changes inserted into or from the January, or April drafts be highlighted so a reader can see how the final version was shaped?