Waukesha Water Utility Gives DNR Additional Information for Great Lakes Water Application

The Waukesha Water Utility submitted Wednesday about 1,000 additional pages of supplemental information to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to be included in the city’s application to divert Lake Michigan water under the terms of the Great Lakes Compact.

The DNR had requested the additional or clarified information as it is reviewing the city’s application, which was approved for submission more than a year ago by the Waukesha Common Council. The application is seeking permission to pipe and return Lake Michigan water as the city is facing a June 2018 deadline to reduce radium levels in its water supply. At the same time, the water utility is seeking a sustainable water source to address the declining ground water levels and quality.

“We had always anticipated that an application as complex as ours would include department requests for additional information following its initial review,” said Dan Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility, in a news release.   “The utility staff and our consultants invested a great deal of time and money to ensure that the WDNR had the information it requires to complete a thorough analysis.

“This included contracting for additional groundwater modeling of the western unconfined deep aquifer alternative, which is further from the city than groundwater alternatives that had previously been evaluated.”

The water utility provided more detailed evaluations of two possible water supply alternatives, which included the unconfined deep aquifer that is about 12 miles west of Waukesha and a combination of sources that included deep and shallow wells, wells from the Fox River and rock quarries. The utility’s studies concluded that the alternatives are not reasonable because of the cost, effects to the environment and public health.

A multifaceted water source approach is estimated to cost the city $319 million in infrastructure alone, with $7.9 million in annual maintenance and operation expenses. A Lake Michigan diversion from Milwaukee with a return flow to the Great Lakes is projected to cost $164 million with $6.2 million in annual operation and maintenance costs. The utility is also considering Oak Creek and Racine as suppliers.

The deep unconfined wells in western Waukesha County have a $228 million estimated capital cost with a $6.6 million annual operation and maintenance expense.

“Some people have said we should take smaller amounts of water from a number of different resources,” said Duchniak in the release.  “In addition to environmental and health concerns, a major problem is that the infrastructure and operating costs for using multiple sources become very expensive and lead to varying levels of water quality.”

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.