In a Sunday Crossroads op-ed, a pro-growth suburban Milwaukee-area state legislator and a water industry leader in Southeastern Wisconsin jointly called for the creation of a multi-member regional water authority to coordinate water supply planning and distribution across municipal borders - - with the resolution of the City of Waukesha's long-standing water supply troubles among the authors' goals.
The trial balloon is not the first time that business interests have joined the effort - - more detail, here - - to get Waukesha the water it says it needs.
One business group had this to say in 2010:
"Our first order of business will be to help secure a sustainable source
of water for the city of Waukesha," the coalition announced today. "We
believe our own ‘backyard' challenges, such as the city of Waukesha's
need to attain court-ordered radium compliance, must be solved with
broad community support for this region to become a true ‘water hub.'"
Yet the City of Waukesha is still staring at a legally-binding June, 2018 deadline to deliver a new water supply, with
a controlling date of June, 2013 in diversion planning an apparent impossibility.
An application for a Lake Michigan diversion that Waukesha drafted in the spring
of 2010 is still being reviewed by the DNR; the application must pass through similar reviews and
approvals in all eight Great Lakes states according to a 2008 Great Lakes water management agreement (Compact) because Waukesha is located beyond the boundaries of
the Great Lakes basin.
Perhaps the authors are anticipating the rejection of Waukesha's application by one or more of the Great Lakes states, where approvals must be unanimous.
Or they may be acknowledging that the 2018 deadline simply cannot be met under the Compact process, thus,
1) pushing Waukesha to a Plan B, like the combination of greater conservation and water from new local, shallow wells blended with supplies from current, deeper wells, and
2) anticipate a fresh application under the Compact for Lake Michigan water by a new regional water authority - - a "Plan C" - - years down the road, given the time needed to set up the authority and have it draft a water diversion application that sends water out of the great lakes basin to an authority member (Waukesha).
A regional water authority directed by suburban interests (goodbye, Milwaukee, hello sprawl-fueled water), is
clearly on the minds of Waukesha and Oak Creek:
Note that item "F" in the Oak-Creek Waukesha water deal envisions the creation of a regional water authority:
F. Regional Water Authority: Both Parties agree to engage in
discussions related to the creation of a Regional Water Authority
("RWA"), the purpose of which would be to own and operate a treatment
facility and the facility's related infrastructure. Such discussions
would investigate the potential for the RWA to serve Oak Creek and its
wholesale customers and the ownership and governing structure of the
potential RWA. If such RWA purchases Oak Creek's existing Water
treatment facility and the facility's related infrastructure, Oak Creek
will receive fair and equitable monetary compensation for the sale.
I've followed
the regional water authority issue since 2007 when the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, SEWRPC, eventually recommended that Waukesha use Lake Michigan water.
SEWRPC had hired Madison attorney and water law specialist Lawrie Kobza as a consultant to lay out the legal basis for the establishment of regional water authorities, and incorporated her findings into its final report.
Waukesha later hired Kobza to advise the city on the preparation of the diversion application.
