Small City Wants Great Lakes Water And Some Critics Hate That Idea

The tap water needs of a small city in Wisconsin are putting a major agreement about Great Lakes policy, signed into federal law in 2008, to its first major test.

The Great Lakes are governed by a “binding binational system that would manage and regulate the largest source of surface freshwater in the world,” according to The Atlantic.

Now, the drinking water needs of Waukesha, WI, situated 17 miles from Lake Michigan, are putting the compact to the test, according to report. The city applied this year to divert water from the lake.

“A massive proposal by Waukesha to ‘borrow’ up to 8.4 million gallons of Lake Michigan water every day (or 3 billion gallons every year) is weeks away from an up-or-down vote by the governors of the Great Lakes states,” the report said.

The Waukesha case is dividing policymakers and critics on an important question: How should lake water be doled out? Here’s what Waukesha’s supporters say, per The Atlantic:

Proponents at a public hearing in February said the diversion is a no-brainer, a concept as uncomplicated as removing a teaspoonful of water from a swimming pool and returning it as clean as ever. The criteria, of course, are more elaborate. According to the compact, water returned to the basin must be equal in quality to the water taken out; diverted water will be allowed only if there is no “reasonable” alternate water supply available; a comprehensive water-conservation program must be in place; and the diversion must not affect the “integrity of the Basin ecosystem.”

Opponents are worried about setting a bad precedent for lake water, according to the report:

Critics cite major flaws in the proposal: Studies by the U.S. Geological Survey show that Waukesha’s deep aquifer is in fact recharging, not declining, calling into question the very need for diverting Lake Michigan water. Although Waukesha treats a sizable portion of its radium-tainted water, critics say it has been slow to try alternative treatment technologies that have been used successfully by adjacent (and rapidly developing) communities. Wastewater released into the Root River — and potentially along Racine’s pristine public beaches — would also likely contain “chemicals of emerging concern,” such as discarded pharmaceuticals and personal-care products, which are not adequately regulated by state or federal governments, said Nicholas Schroeck, the director of the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic at Wayne State University.

Environmentalists, in particular, are worried about the Waukesha proposal. They say an endless number of communities near the Great Lakes could be tempted to try similar strategies.

Even some far-flung communities are eyeing Great Lakes water as drought ensnares many western states.

“How long before somebody proposes... a project to build a 900-mile pipeline from Lake Superior to the Green River watershed in southwest Wyoming?" a Minnesota Public Radio piece asked last year.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, in a bid to win the presidency nine year ago, called for diverting Great Lakes water to the drought-plagued Southwest. “States like Wisconsin are awash in water,” he said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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