Waukesha Council To Get Water Deal Proposal Aug. 21, Manager Says

The Freeman newspaper today says Waukesha Water Utility general manager Daniel Duchniak will present a "proposed agreement" to the Waukesha Common Council on August 21st for the purchase of Lake Michigan water "from either Oak Creek or Racine."
 
It will be interesting to see whether the projected cost is less than earlier estimates used by Waukesha to project water acquisition project costs from those cities - - Oak Creek, $261 million, Racine $312 million - - that exceeded a projected $164 million deal with Milwaukee now off the table because Milwaukee has declined to sell water to portions of four smaller municipalities which the DNR says  Waukesha can serve, too.
The project cost figures have been widely distributed: this recent Journal Sentinel story explains them this way:

Twelve months ago, Waukesha projected it would spend $164 million for a Milwaukee connection and identified Milwaukee as the preferred supplier in its water diversion application to the Great Lakes states.

Cost of an Oak Creek connection was estimated at $261 million at that time with Racine seemingly out of consideration at a whopping $312 million.

But 11 months of talks with the two other cities have narrowed the gap, Duchniak has said.

Waukesha is also hoping for federal grant funding to defray some of its costs, Duchniak has said.

I'd noted the effort to get GOP Cong. Sensembrenner's backing for the US Army Corps of Engineers grant, and it sure looks like that's a continuing effort.

Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Daniel Duchniak told his commission in April during a Great lakes water update that he'd been to Washington, DC in furtherance of "support for the Army Corps of Engineers project."

From the April 19 minutes, Discussion Item #9 (see pdf files, here):

Duchniak went to Washington D.C. for support of the Army Corps of Engineers project-- received support from Congressman Sensenbrenner and Senator Kohl and is waiting to hear about a letter of support from Senator Johnson.