Root Of Waukesha's Water Diversion Centered In Racine
State Rep. Cory Mason, (D-Racine) - - a member of the Legislature's influential Joint Finance Committee - - has on more than one occasion opposed Waukesha's proposed Lake Michigan diversion plan because it wants the Root River through Racine and that city's harbor as the Waukesha wastewater return flow route:
'Racine Is Not Waukesha's toilet," Mason has said.Or 'Not in our River,' Racine has reiterated.
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| State Rep. Cory Mason, (D-Racine) |
Mason said in a letter to Waukesha on October 31st that its diversion plan violated the Great Lakes Compact and pledged to bring up his objections at a public meeting about the diversion plan Waukesha has scheduled in Racine on Nov. 14th.
Mason also said in his letter that the meetings should allow give-and-take between audience members and Waukesha officials.
Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Daniel Duchniak responded to Mason with a letter on November 1.
Duchniak said he would allot 20 minutes to respond to written questions submitted at the meeting and told Mason there would be several "information stations" in the meeting room where audience members could pose questions to Waukesha staffers.
I will try and post the texts of Mason's letter and Waukesha's response when I receive them in a copyable format.
4 comments:
Like a child writing a wishlist to Santa Claus
Another lawsuit?
A potential lawsuit from Milwaukee.
A potential lawsuit from Racine.
A potential lawsuit from Waukesha.
Add a few more "potential lawsuits" from other special interest groups and Waukesha should receive a yes or no from the compact coalition by June of 2018.
If Waukesha gets a yes, they can then submit their application to the Public Service Commission to create the new utility cooperative between Waukesha, Franklin and Oak Creek to allow direct access to Lake Michigan water. Opps, forgot to mention that in the application. Anyway, that's probably another year.
Then construction can begin with the fine for violating the court order of $5000 per day starting back on June 1, 2018.
Given the "drop dead date" to begin construction until completion and start-up of 5 years, and 1 year delay from 2018, comes to a fine of $10,950,000.
No big deal. Added to the price tag of over $200,000,000 along with the cost of all the lawsuits, that's a drop in the bucket for the really sharp city leadership in Waukesha to justify to their community of 70,000.
So where do you and Mason think wastewater goes? Almost every wastewater utility discharges to a river.
For an actual adult-level discussion, see the Racine newspaper: “Waukesha is held to tougher water treatment standards than Racine, and that any water that Waukesha puts into the Root River will likely be cleaner than the water already there.” http://journaltimes.com/news/local/waukesha-officials-to-discuss-sending-wastewater-down-racine-s-root/article_b0fcaa38-47a7-11e3-805e-0019bb2963f4.html
Sure anon 8:45.
So the benefits to the Root River are offset by the damage to the Fox River ecosystem, drops in surface water, damage to the Vernon Marsh and 4000 acres, and drops in shallow aquifers.
Hard to prove there's less environmental damage with a Lake Michigan diversion.
It's all about growth in Waukesha County.
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