In its early days, Waukesha was well known for its extremely clean drinking water. During the late 1800s, travelers flocked there to drink the water, which some thought could improve their health and eliminate maladies.
Many of the visitors who came to enjoy Waukesha’s water were wealthy or famous, including first lady Mary Todd Lincoln.
However, the days of people coming to Waukesha just to drink the water are long gone. The city’s water supply is now contaminated with a high level of radium, a naturally occurring but carcinogenic element.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered Waukesha to get its water in compliance with safe drinking water standards by 2018.
The problem with the drinking water is a significant health concern and a major economic issue for the city, the largest in Waukesha County and the seventh-largest in the state.
“How are you going to attract business if you’ve got contaminated, radium-filled water? Who wants to move a business there?” said Michael Gryczka, vice president of commercial lending for Pewaukee-based Investors Bank and chairman of the board for the Waukesha County Business Alliance.
“As a health care provider, we believe this is a public health issue and this needs to get resolved,” said Ed Olson, chief external affairs officer for Waukesha-based ProHealth Care, one of the largest water users in the city.
The radium contamination in Waukesha’s water comes from the deep aquifer from which the city draws 85 percent of its water supply. The rest of the city’s water comes from the shallow aquifer, which is separated from the deep aquifer by a layer of shale. The city could try to obtain additional water from the shallow aquifer, which is not contaminated with radium, but would have to obtain the permission to drill several wells outside of the city limits, and drawing from the shallow aquifer impacts the level of surface water bodies.
Most city officials and many business leaders in Waukesha have come to the conclusion that the best long-term solution for the city’s water needs is a diversion of water from Lake Michigan.
Pressure is building
“We have been involved in more than eight years of studies related to the water supply issue in Waukesha,” said Daniel Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility. “Every study we have been through has led to the conclusion that the only reliable solution is the Great Lakes water supply.”
“This is an issue our organization has researched and been outspoken on,” said Suzanne Kelley, president of the Waukesha County Business Alliance. “We believe Lake Michigan is the best option for the city of Waukesha to provide water for its residents and businesses.”
“There’s been a lot of time and effort spent looking at all of the alternatives,” said Mike Pjevach, president of Waukesha-based Wisconsin Coach Lines and a Waukesha County Business Alliance board member. “The information that I have been able to look at indicates that the Great Lakes is the best and most sustainable long-term solution.”
“We are strongly in favor of the science that suggests that Lake Michigan is the right approach,” Olson said. “All of the evidence points in that direction.”
City officials are seeking approval for a Lake Michigan diversion. However, the city is only at the beginning of a lengthy approval process.
The city of Waukesha is located outside of the Great Lakes basin. But Waukesha County straddles the subcontinental divide, which is the edge of the basin. Rainfall east of the divide flows to Lake Michigan, but rainfall in Waukesha and other areas west of the divide flows to the Mississippi River.
Under the Great Lakes Compact, enacted in 2008, cities that are located outside of the Great Lakes basin but within counties that straddle the subcontinental divide can apply for access to Great Lakes water, but they must return treated wastewater to the Great Lakes, and the water diversion must be approved by the governors of all of the eight Great Lakes states.
Waukesha officials recently submitted a response to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) seeking additional information for the city’s Lake Michigan water application, which was filed last year. The DNR is expected to announce soon whether or not Waukesha’s application for Lake Michigan water is complete.
But that is only the beginning of the process. If the application is considered complete, the DNR will then take most of the next year to review the application to determine if it is suitable to be submitted to the Great Lakes governors. Then the Great Lakes governors will review and vote on Waukesha’s application.
A final decision probably will not be made until late 2012, said Eric Ebersberger, water use section chief of the DNR.
If Waukesha receives approval from the Great Lakes governors to tap Lake Michigan water, the city then must reach an agreement from a water provider. The most likely options for providers are the cities of Milwaukee, Oak Creek or Racine.
The city’s preferred provider is the city of Milwaukee, Duchniak said.
“They are the closest, and they have the capacity,” he said.
After the 1993 cryptosporidium outbreak in Milwaukee, the city made improvements to its water system. Milwaukee’s drinking water quality is now “excellent,” Duchniak said.
Water rates are set by the state’s Public Service Commission, not the city of Milwaukee. Last year, the Milwaukee Water Works raised concerns with a 28.5-percent rate increase request. The PSC approved a 20.8-percent increase.
Squishy mayor
Waukesha Mayor Jeff Scrima has expressed reservations about relying on the city of Milwaukee for its water supply. Last year during the political campaign, Scrima said Waukesha should not seek Lake Michigan water. Some political observers believed that stance helped Scrima defeat the previous mayor, Larry Nelson, who supported plans for Waukesha to get Lake Michigan water from the city of Milwaukee.
“In the interest of Waukesha maintaining sovereignty, Waukesha should not pursue Lake Michigan water,” Scrima said last year in a response to a Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce questionnaire. “Milwaukee has already resolved to use water sales to dictate Waukesha’s business, jobs, housing and transit. Even if Waukesha can negotiate a better water deal with Milwaukee or any other municipality, these deals are always up for renegotiation. This would be something Waukesha would have to fight about for generations. Whose ever hand controls the faucet, controls Waukesha’s future.”
Scrima did not return phone calls from BizTimes Milwaukee seeking comments for this story.
As mayor, Scrima has advocated for the city to keep all of its options open for its future water supplies, including additional wells into the shallow aquifer. In his recent state of the city address, Scrima said, “Whatever our drinking water source ends up being, we need to fully understand the cost to our community, now and 30 years from now. As council and mayor, we will remain actively engaged in the process. In the event that the DNR or Great Lakes governors turn down our application, it’s only reasonable to have a plan B and plan C. The simple truth is that we do have multiple options.”
However, Duchniak said relying on more shallow aquifer wells will be more expensive in the long run than getting Lake Michigan water and will not provide a permanent solution to Waukesha’s water needs. In a few decades, “we’d be back in the same boat,” Duchniak said.
Many city officials and Waukesha business leaders are concerned that other Great Lakes governors will reject Waukesha’s application for Lake Michigan water if the city’s mayor is not on board with the plan. That concern is heightened because only one “no” vote by a Great Lakes governor would kill Waukesha’s application, although there is an appeals process.
“We need everybody to be pulling in the same direction,” Gryczka said. “That’s why it’s important to get (Scrima’s) support. We’d like to see him take a stand behind us.”
“I don’t fully understand the mayor’s concerns,” Olson said. “The debate has been positive and thorough. It’s important that the debate is held so all of the fundamental issues are addressed. But I think we’re past that now. The time has come for everybody to gather around a single approach.”
“I believe once (Scrima) has the opportunity to review the application he will come to the same conclusion that we have, which is a Lake Michigan diversion is the only option,” Duchniak said. “I’m concerned this has become more of a political issue. Politics threatens our ability to obtain the best alternative. I am a bit concerned the mayor continues to discuss other options to the Great Lakes.”
Some other communities in Waukesha County have used water treatment systems or water from the shallow aquifer to keep their water quality standards within compliance, said Lee Boushon, water supply section chief for the DNR.
However, there are no other sites within the Waukesha city limits where it can drill additional wells to draw water from the shallow aquifer, Duchniak said. The only possible sites for such wells are outside of the city limits, he said. Wells that draw water from the shallow aquifer impact surface water bodies, and wells that the city of Waukesha needs could impact the environmentally sensitive Vernon Marsh area, he said. The city would need to drill 23 shallow aquifer wells to spread out and minimize the environmental impact, he said. It could be difficult to obtain the authority to drill the wells outside of the city limits.
“I have concern about the utility’s ability to secure agreement to dig these wells without a protracted legal fight,” Duchniak said.
Like Waukesha, the city of New Berlin had problems with radium contamination in its drinking water. In 2008, New Berlin city reached an agreement to purchase water from the city of Milwaukee. New Berlin straddles the intercontinental divide, so the city did not need approval from the Great Lakes governors to get Lake Michigan water.
Under the agreement, New Berlin agreed to pay Milwaukee a one-time fee of $1.5 million. The city of Milwaukee was also expected to receive an additional $650,000 a year that New Berlin residents and businesses would pay in water bills.
Milwaukee’s agenda
However, some Milwaukee aldermen opposed the deal with New Berlin, saying that the city of Milwaukee did not get enough in return.
Also in 2008, the Milwaukee Common Council passed a resolution establishing terms and conditions by which the city would provide water to neighboring communities. Those terms and conditions indicate that a community applying for water from the city of Milwaukee must provide its comprehensive plan, an affordable housing plan and public transportation plan to the city of Milwaukee. Communities applying for water must also agree to a non-compete clause with the city, with both sides promising not to try to lure businesses from the other, and the community must agree to an economic compensation provision for the city of Milwaukee.
“It allows us to ensure we are working with allies that have common regional interests, so that while we are working in partnership with the suburban communities we are not doing so at the city of Milwaukee’s expense,” said Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines. “We want to ensure that Milwaukee residents’ and Milwaukee’s interests are protected.”
Those conditions are some of the things that Scrima is concerned about in seeking water from the city of Milwaukee. However, other city officials and business and community leaders say that Milwaukee and Waukesha just need to work out a mutually beneficial water deal. Otherwise, Waukesha has the option of making a water deal with Oak Creek or Racine, but the cost to get the water from those communities could be higher.
“In Wisconsin, cities are set up as separate home rule entities,” said Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas. “The bottom line is one city cannot require something as a condition unless the other city agrees to it. They’re going to have to sit down at the bargaining table.”
“The city (of Waukesha) is going to have negotiations with more than one community,” Kelley said. “All sides need to get to the negotiating table and hammer out the best deal possible.”
“It boils down to sitting down and negotiating, giving and taking and showing respect for both municipalities to establish a true partnership where both municipalities feel pleased with the agreement,” Hines said.
Milwaukee officials have no plans to pick up any of the costs of establishing water service to Waukesha. To make that point clear, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Hines and seven other Milwaukee aldermen sent a letter last month to Scrima, saying, “any and all costs related to the study, design, construction and connection of the water supply from Milwaukee to Waukesha and the return of treated water to Lake Michigan, shall be borne by Waukesha. The city of Milwaukee will not be responsible for any of these or related costs.”
Access to Milwaukee water would further enable Waukesha to expand and grow. Some Milwaukee officials are concerned that growth in Waukesha comes at Milwaukee’s expense. However, a water deal with Waukesha also could provide a much-needed revenue source for the city of Milwaukee. Those concerns will likely play a role in any water deal negotiations between Milwaukee and Waukesha.
“We do not want to be extortionists,” said Alex Runner, staff assistant for Hines. “We know Waukesha has serious needs. We want to negotiate with them in a fair way. If they don’t like the deal, they don’t have to do the deal.”
Water supply challenges could be confronted by other area communities in the future as their populations increase and the groundwater supply is further diminished. Those other communities also might seek city of Milwaukee water in the future.
“The aquifer is going to continue to draw down,” Duchniak said.
The Lake Michigan water supply could be a long-term solution for regional water needs and should provide a huge advantage to help all of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy grow, Vrakas said.
“I’m hoping we will be able to come up with an agreement that will meet everyone’s satisfaction and we can move on and send a message that southeastern Wisconsin is open for business,” Vrakas said. “All of southeastern Wisconsin.”
