For years, opponents of Waukesha’s application to use and recycle Great Lakes water have issued a series of misleading press releases and opinion pieces. They are usually intended to leave the impression that the project would somehow threaten the Great Lakes.
But lost in all the noise from a Milwaukee-based coalition of opponents is the basic truth: that the Waukesha proposal returns about the same amount that it withdraws. It will not harm the Great Lakes. In fact, while returning essentially the same amount of water back to the lake, it will improve a river connected to the Great Lakes (the Root River) and enhance production at a state fish egg collection facility on the river.
But it is clear that, for many of Waukesha’s opponents, denying water is seen as a way to harm their neighbors to gain an economic advantage. The idea of regional cooperation is rejected.
Some opponents also say water must be kept in the Great Lakes Basin, and that Waukesha is outside of the Basin. If Waukesha gets water, where will it stop, they ask?
That question was asked and answered when the Great Lakes Compact, an agreement among states and provinces, was adopted as federal law in 2008. The Compact says water can never be pumped beyond the border of counties that straddle the Great Lakes Basin, like Waukesha County. Not to California. Not even to Jefferson County, just west of Waukesha.
Waukesha would withdraw one one-millionth of 1 percent of the water in the Great Lakes, and then recycle the same volume back to the lake after use and treatment. The return flow water – which is cleaner than the river – would be added to the Root River to improve the water quality and fish habitat and to flow back to Lake Michigan.
In June, the Department of Natural Resources, after an extensive five-year analysis, released draft reports that say every alternative to Lake Michigan water is unreasonable due to the impacts on wetlands, lakes, streams and aquifers – even if water use could be reduced well below the projections it said are reasonable. The analysis confirms a five-year study for regional planners by 32 experts, and a decade of study by Waukesha.
The only sustainable water supply for Waukesha is Lake Michigan, and recycling the water back to the lake ensures no harm to the Great Lakes.
For more information, please see www.waukesha-water.com.
Dan Duchniak is the general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility.
