Rising Concern, Opposition Over Lake Michigan Diversion To Waukesha

After expressing concerns for nearly five years about the wisdom of diverting Lake Michigan water beyond the Great Lakes basin, a coalition of local and statewide environmental and conservation organizations is formally urging the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to reject the City of Waukesha's controversial diversion plan.

The six organizations say the Waukesha plan falls short of diversion standards in a 2008 US-Canadian Great Lakes water management legal agreement:

There are several critical areas in which Waukesha’s application fails to meet the approval criteria, including failing to show that Waukesha has no reasonable local water supply alternative.  The City also failed to show that it has minimized its need for Lake Michigan water by reducing its water use through strong conservation measures.

The agreement was passed by the Wisconsin Legislature with companion, enabling legislation, was also approved by seven other Great Lakes states' lawmakers, ratified by the Canadian government, approved by the US Congress and signed by former US President George W. Bush.

Some additional history, here.

The Wisconsin DNR has posted a summary of the agreement's diversion standards, and other relevant materials, here.

Separately, an organization of US and Canadian Great Lakes mayors, and a branch of the League of Wisconsin Women Voters also have sent comments of concern about the Waukesha plan to the DNR.

The Lake Michigan diversion application was first submitted by the City of Waukesha under the governing agreement to the DNR in May, 2010; Waukesha then made substantial revisions to the plan, but no formal public hearings on the redrafted diversional proposal have been held.

The 2010 version proposed diverting on average about 11 million gallons of Lake Michigan water daily from the City of Milwaukee Water Utility and returning it as treated wastewater through Underwood Creek in the City of Wauwatosa, then into the Menomonee River in Milwaukee to the lake.

The 2013 version has Waukesha diverting slightly less water from the City of Oak Creek Water Utility, then returning it as treated wastewater into the Root River in the City of Franklin, through Racine, and into the lake.

Also still to come in the process - - the release of a DNR-drafted environmental impact statement.

Should the Wisconsin DNR eventually approve the precedent-setting diversion application, additional advisory reviews would be carried out by two Canadian provinces, along with reviews, and "yes" or "no" rulings, by all eight Great Lakes state governors.

One "no" vote blocks the diversion.