Thursday, April 30, 2015

Waukesha Great Lakes water diversion needs WI DNR info update

Though Waukesha has missed repeated water diversion planning deadlines (recent history, below), and has said publicly it will miss the big one - - a June 2018, court-ordered mandate to which it signed for provision of radium-free water - - the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website dedicated to the diversion plan, last revised in January, is still featuring July 2014 items.

What gives?

Recent history from this blog and other sources:
TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015:


Wednesday, April 8th, is the five-year anniversary of the Waukesha Common Council's adoption of the Waukesha Water Utility's application for a precedent-setting diversion of Lake Michigan water out of the Great Lakes Basin.
But rein in your optimism if you think the application's implementation after all that time is just around the corner.
Though the city is facing a June, 2018 court-approved deadline to provide customers with a cleaner water supply, delays and missed deadlines - - accompanied by inaccurate progress estimates - - have pushed that projected compliance date to the summer of 2020, and there is no "plan B," according to a City of Waukesha document which The Journal Sentinel prompted and cited.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is no need for a plan B is Wisconsin's now corrupt DNR gets to call the shots. Walker owes Walkersha big time. We all know that 99% of the city's residents DO NOT vote. We saw the integrity of that community's elections when Psycho-Judge David Prosser was able to steal back an election he initially lost with the help of unsealed and open bags of ballots that reasonably appear to have been created just to flip that election.

Walkersha will get its water by hook or crook, that's a certainty.

Anonymous said...

You've done an excellent job covering this story which is virtually never covered in the state's newspaper that has structured its pro-Republican business model around Waukesha. I have seen much of your work on this, but perhaps missed something important that could be helpful to post (again if you have already detailed).

This PDF from WI DNR identifies areas with water that has problems with radium:

http://dnr.wi.gov/files/pdf/pubs/dg/dg0008.pdf

Is Waukesha's radium situation the worst in the state? Are there other communities that have agreed (via supposedly binding court agreements) to resolve radium problems? Are there some other communities with essentially the same situation that are handling this problem more/or less effectively than Waukesha?

It does appear that Waukesha may simply be runnning-out-the-clock and that, at some level, there is no intention to meet the 2018 deadline -- is this a reasonable perspective?

Thanks for covering this story in-detail because it isn't really in the news anywhere else.

Anonymous said...

My understanding is that the original Waukesha diversion plan called for drawing Lake Michigan water and returning it via the Underwood Creek.

There's quite a bit of construction activity/laying of pipeline that's occurring along the Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa. It's been described as part of Wauwatosa's flood abatement program, but one wonders, might there be an ulterior motive?

James Rowen said...

The current plan calls for flushing the wastewater, treated, into the Root River for downstream deposit into Lake Michigan through the Racine Harbor.

Anonymous said...

For a really through understanding of how Waukesha is in a pickle with the June 2018 radium compliance deadline and a copy of the relative portion of the court order and stipulations go here:

http://www.takinittothestreets.us/sha/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=69&start=105