History of Waukesha's Water Diversion

The City of Waukesha first shared their diversion proposal for Great Lakes water with members of the environmental and conservation community in November. Since that time, Riverkeeper and our partners have attended several meetings and hearings regarding the Waukesha diversion with Waukesha and DNR staff. Waukesha has problems with radium in its groundwater, and recently settled a lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Department of Justice for years of noncompliance with radium safety standards for drinking water. Waukesha currently meets radium standards 11 months of the year, but is still interested in seeking Great Lakes water to replace their current drinking water supply, and submitting a formal application under the Great Lakes Compact. One of the provision’s of the Compact is that communities receiving Great Lakes water return that water back to the lakes as close to the original source as possible (this is called “return flow”). Waukesha is proposing at the current time to purchase water from the City of Milwaukee and return that water via Underwood Creek. Milwaukee Riverkeeper is very concerned about the effects of this diversion and return flow on both water quality of the Creek, as well as effects on flooding, habitat, and existing and planned restoration projects downstream. Waukesha has also proposed sending some flows down the Fox River during very dry or low flow periods (to enable recreational uses on the Fox River) and during high flow periods, when Underwood Creek is vulnerable to flooding. They are also proposing to meet their “return flow” requirements by including infiltration and inflow of groundwater that is leaking into their sanitary pipes as “extra” water that could be sent back to the Lake. These types of conditions were not considered as options during the Compact drafting process, and the State of Wisconsin, as well as other Great Lakes States, has yet to develop rules by which to evaluate diversion applications. Likewise, there are no provisions set for public participation and comment on these Great Lakes Compact diversion applications. 

 

Waukesha’s diversion request will likely be the first in the Great Lakes region, and thus needs to be carefully and intelligently considered given its long term consequences for Southeastern Wisconsin and precedent-setting impact under the Great Lakes Compact. Milwaukee Riverkeeper and Clean Wisconsin, Midwest Environmental Advocates, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, and Waukesha Environmental Action League have formed a “Compact Implementation Coalition” to watchdog both Waukesha’s anticipated application, as well as other pending and future diversion applications. Our Coalition has developed an extensive list of questions for the City of Waukesha and DNR outlining our concerns and questions regarding Waukesha’s proposal for Great Lakes Water. These questions are available on our website.
 

Our Coalition has also developed a blog site specifically set-up to facilitate communication, information and updates concerning Waukesha’s diversion application: http://greatlakesdiversionwatch.blogspot.com/. 

 

Given the far-reaching impact that any prospective diversion to Waukesha would have --legally, environmentally and economically speaking -- it is our intention to provide citizens, communities, policy-makers and stakeholders in the Great Lakes Region with easy access to timely information and insights on the Waukesha diversion proposal as it is further refined, improved and ultimately presented as a formal application. Milwaukee Riverkeeper will also work to protect Underwood Creek and the Menomonee River, should Waukesha choose one of our rivers as their vehicle for returning flow back to Lake Michigan.