But that request needed unanimous approval from eight Great Lakes’ governors, including Michigan’s, to go through. Waukeshaw would be the first US city outside the Great Lakes basin to use lake water.
Advertisement
Waukesha spent years building its case that the Great Lakes are its only sustainable source for clean drinking water. “Waukesha’s diversion application as submitted did not meet the standards of the Great Lakes Compact, and we feel that the conditions adopted by the Compact Council acknowledged those inconsistencies and improved the proposal’s compliance with the law”. So, it shouldn’t have access to the Great Lakes, Paterson argued.
The plan approved Tuesday has seen numerous revisions, including a reduction in the maximum amount of water the city will be allowed to take. Waukesha, a city of 70,000 people located 27 kilometers (17 miles) west of Lake Michigan in the Mississippi River watershed, qualified for an exception.
Representatives from MI, llinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin voted in approval of Waukesha’s request.
The Great Lakes governors meet today in Chicago, and one item on their agenda is a request from Waukesha, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee.
A statement from the Wisconsin Compact Implementation Coalition – a collective of Wisconsin conservation groups opposed to the diversion – maintains that Waukesha’s proposal is flawed. That viewpoint was echoed by representatives of all ten states and provinces, jointly called the Regional Body, that voted in May to trim the area that can be served by Waukesha’s diversion.
Even the conceptually simplest test of all – whether the city has no reasonable alternative way to provide safely radium-free water to its residents – remains a contentious question, and not just among Waukesha’s environmentalist challengers.
Waukesha made the request after testing showed radium in the current water supply.
“There are a lot of emotions and politics surrounding this issue, but voting yes – in co-operation with our Great Lakes neighbours – is the best way to conserve one of our greatest natural resources”, Snyder said. A six-year appeal process dissected the project’s merits and collected public comments from citizens in the Great Lakes states whose water – unequivocally the region’s most valuable resource – is at stake.
Environmental groups and some elected officials objected to the diversion, saying it could set a bad precedent.
Unlike what Waukesha is planning to do, Chicago doesn’t return water to the Great Lakes.
Advertisement
A Compact Council press release reported the council approved the diversion application with conditions.
