Land, Water Politics Could Backfire Against Waukesha's Diversion
There's talk of voluntary, large-scale annexations of Town of Waukesha acreage to the City of Waukesha if the City's application for a Great Lakes diversion does not include larger portions of the Town.
I continue to be baffled by actions by both the City and the Town that send the message to the other Great Lakes states - - and all must approve the use of the commonly-managed water - - that diverted water is being sought for land and residents from which there has been no formal application for water, including the portions of four towns attached to the City application - - and there is no expressed need for a new supply for these Towns as called for by the controlling Great Lakes Compact.
What's in it for Ohio, or Michigan, for example, to approve sending water out-of-basin on these terms?
Any refusal by one of the eight Great Lakes states sinks the application.
3 comments:
The irony is that if one of the other Great Lakes states indeed vetoes the deeply flawed application, it will be Waukesha that will have sunk itself.
If you read the JS link to the Water Utility letter to the Town of Waukesha you notice it addresses "landowners" - not "residents" or "community members".
"landowners" is another reference to big developers. Without city sewer and water (from Lake Michigan) those investment parcels have limited value.
If Waukesha gets Lake Michigan water and thew developers are "in" they make big bucks and the unsuspecting future home or business owner will be stuck with paying for the massive costs of the pipelines, costs of water, and forever O&M costs.
This nothing to do with sustainability for those who currently receive water from the Waukesha Water Utility nor is it relevent to the supposed necessity to get Lake Michigan water becuase of a contaminated supply from radium. Radium can be filtered and Waukesha already does so on some wells, just not all.
Makes me wonder if this application is about need or greed.
James said, "Any refusal by one of the eight Great Lakes states sinks the application."
Any significant stall by any one of the Great Lakes states sinks tha application.
Every state can save political good will for their own needs if Waukesha's court ordered deadline of 2018 expires.
They owe Waukesha nothing and it appears that Waukesha's needs of water for development are no better than the proposed pipeline to Las Vegas over a decade ago.
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