Politics & Government

Waukesha Water Utility Handing in Responses to DNR Next Week

City looks to advance Great Lakes water application forward.

The Waukesha Water Utility is in the final editing process of sending in clarified and additional information about its Great Lakes water application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as the city is seeking to pipe and return Lake Michigan water from Milwaukee, Oak Creek or Racine.

The information will be going to the DNR early next week, said Waukesha Water Utlity General Manager Dan Duchniak. The Waukesha Common Council approved submitting the application just over a year ago.

The city is responding 11 pages of questions and clarifications the Department of Natural Resources sent the city concerning the application in December.

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The city is being asked by the DNR to receive approvals from the Town of Genesee and the Town of Waukesha to be included in a water service area that was mapped out by SEWRPC – Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

Certain  town properties are being included in the request but the towns would not automatically receive Lake Michigan water if the city receives Lake Michigan water.

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The towns would have to request the water from the city and having the towns in the future water service area gives the towns an option in case of catastrophic well failures. The Town of Genesee agreed to be in the future water supply area but the Town of Waukesha has yet to make a decision.

Moving forward, Duchniak said, the Town of Waukesha remains in the future water service area that is in the application. The application can be modified after the town makes a decision.

“The DNR and I had decided that we would continue with the application as is,” Duchniak said. “In the event that they do not want to be included in this, we would just remove it.”

The city is applying for the water diversion under the Great Lakes Compact, which is an agreement signed by all eight Great Lakes states to prohibit the piping or transferring of water beyond the Great Lakes surface watershed. The compact does allow diversions for communities, such as Waukesha, that are in counties that straddle the divide, according to the city's application.

The city is applying for the water because its current deep well source is prevented from refilling by a shale layer that keeps water from re-entering the groundwater, leaving a declining water source. The city is also under a mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce radium levels in its water supply or face stiff, recurring penalties and fines.

The capital costs to meet the EPA's mandate could more than double the average water bill, depending on the amount of federal funding the city receives and the water source the Common Council ultimately selects.

The application originally stalled in June, and the city hoped for DNR approval by the end of 2010 or early 2011. The delays on the application have cut into an 18-month buffer the city built in as it meets a June 2018 deadline to meet the EPA's mandate.

Duchniak said he expects to continue working with the DNR as the city seeks the applications approval so it can be forwarded to the other states. The application will include all clarified and additional information given to the DNR.

“I expect there to be a back and forth between the DNR and us,” Duchniak said.


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