After Four Month Delay, DNR Restarts Waukesha Water Diversion Review, But...

Tells Waukesha by letter that it intends to include questions raised earlier by Mayor Jeff Scrima in the review - - Scrima's questions led to a blow-up and much posturing by the Common Council and others in Waukesha's City Hall over his authority in the water issue.

That's how the DNR is choosing to negotiate and navigate through Waukesha's ever-wacky politics around the application - - recently the Common Council edged towards taking away Scrima's authority to make an appointment to the city's imperious water utility commission, which directed the drafting of the troubled and still-incomplete application.

You can read Scrima's letter and other relevant documents at this DNR website.

Scrima, skeptical of the need for the diversion and the way the application was put together, has raised questions about non-Lake Michigan alternatives.

The DNR has received information from Waukesha about comparative costs if Milwaukee, Racine and/or Oak Creek were the suppliers - - but the Mayor also raised questions about the inclusion of parts of Genesee, Pewaukee and the Town of Waukesha into the projected Waukesha water service territory.

The DNR also let Waukesha know that the review of the application will be cautious, time-consuming, fully-transparent and otherwise respectful of its precedent-setting nature.

That The DNR is incorporating Scrima's questions into the agency's ultimate review, and is still posing environmental questions raised for months by environmental groups basically vindicates both the groups and Mayor's analyses of the application.

The letter from the DNR is accessible through a link in this newspaper story. and I will post a separate link when I get it.