Eight states are set to rule on the proposal this week, while Ontario and Quebec – also attached to the Great Lakes basin – won’t get a vote despite being part of deliberations.
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Gowing tells us a number of issued were addressed, such as microbeads in the Great Lakes, and invasive species of plants and wildlife, including Asian carp and phragmites. The group includes eight states and two Canadian provinces.
The Michigan Senate adopted a resolution last month opposing Waukesha’s request.
“You need to stand stronger with those municipalities who are saying, ‘There could be social, economic and environmental issues if more and more people are drawing water from the Great Lakes basin”, says Hope.
Waukesha is making the request because of radium-contaminated wells. Minnesota abstained from voting.
“None of the evaluated alternatives were found to be reliable sources for a long-term, dependable and sustainable public water supply”, the group says in a declaration of finding. The compact requires a unanimous vote of approval among states participating in the final decision.
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Waukesha says it would return as much water as it uses. The Milwaukee suburb would be the first USA community outside the Great Lakes drainage basin to use lake water since a compact to protect the Great Lakes became law in 2008. He has won reporting awards for investigations of Great Lakes water pollution, Milwaukee’s cryptosporidiosis outbreak, and the deaths of three sewer construction workers in a Menomonee Valley methane explosion.
