CHICAGO—Representatives of the Great Lakes states and provinces have substantially cut the amount of water the City of Waukesha, Wisconsin would be able to divert out of Lake Michigan if their application receives approval.
However, Mary Muter, chair of the Great Lakes section of the Sierra Club of Ontario, said, “even with a reduced amount of water taken, this would still be precedent setting if approval is given to Waukesha.”
“It is good news that the Great Lakes states and provinces group decided to reduce the amount of water proposed to be taken, but if they allow this, it allows others to do the same,” said Ms. Muter. “The fact that they did reduce the amount of water that can be taken makes me suspicious that they are going to allow Waukesha’s request to be approved. Why would they make this decision if they are going to reject the application? It may be that they just delayed making the final decision. Either way it is not good, it would be precedent setting and others will follow with similar applications.”
At a meeting held last Friday in Chicago, Illinois the representatives of Great Lakes states and provinces decided to reduce a request by Waukesha for the amount of water to be diverted. Waukesha’s plan included pumping up to an average of 10.1 million gallons a day out of Lake Michigan by mid-century. However, the Great Lakes officials decided to decrease this proposal to an average of 8.2 million gallons a day after they removed portions of three neighbouring communities from a future water service area to receive lake water as a condition of the regional group’s acceptance of the request, reported the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel in its April 25, 2016 edition.
The towns of Delafield and Genesee (both in Wisconsin) and generally the southern half of the Town of Waukesha were taken out of the water service area, previously delineated by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, reported the Journal Sentinel. Waukesha’s requested lake water supply would serve its existing city boundaries, small pieces of the Town of Waukesha, as well as a portion of the City of Pewaukee included under an existing border agreement.
Mike Wilton, of Dominion Bay told the Recorder, “How’s this for irony? On the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the Great Lakes officials gave away a “small portion” of Lake Huron. Shades of “The Merchant of Venice!”
“Shylock demanded his pound of flesh, knowing full well that such an act would eventually lead to the death of his rival Antonio,” said Mr. Wilton. “Similarly, by allowing Waukesha, Wisconsin to withdraw “only” 8.2 million gallons of water from the Lake Michigan-Huron Basin daily, they are opening the door to the eventual degradation of that international water body? Do they not realize that by setting such a precedent, there will be little justification for denying similar requests in the future? Who are these people? What/who gave them the right to make such decisions? What is their real motivation? Canadians had better speak out before it’s too late.”
Grant Trigger, a Michigan representative, was quoted in the the Journal Sentinel article as saying he pushed for the change in service area during two days of meetings in Chicago last week. He said the water service area in the application was not acceptable to many of the states.
A final service area map and revised estimated water volumes that could be needed by midcentury will be distributed to the regional officials by April 27.
Officials for the eight states and two provinces will talk as a group in a May 2 conference call to review changes made to the city’s request. Then the regional group will gather in Chicago on May 10-11 to reach consensus on Waukesha’s request. If they recommend approval of the request at that time, it moves to a vote of the eight Great Lakes’ governors or their designated representative on June 13 in Chicago.
The provincial governments of Ontario and Quebec participated in the regional review, but their premiers do not get to vote on the proposal.
Only one state vote in opposition could cancel Waukesha’s plan.
