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| The Milwaukee shoreline on Lake Michigan |
The long-anticipated entry of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
into the Republican presidential mix came off without a hitch, notable in that
the governor has managed to dodge questions about his administration’s controversial
plan to divert water from the Great Lakes.
Regional opposition to the diversion of Great Lakes water
to parched states such as California and Arizona has been staunch and
bipartisan for many years.
In Michigan, the Great Lakes State, the idea of
selling portions of our greatest natural resource to Western states invokes angry
invectives from people of all political stripes.
sets a disturbing precedent by allowing the city of Waukesha, located inland, west
of Milwaukee, to siphon millions of gallons of Lake Michigan water on a daily
basis for the town’s drinking water needs. The amount of freshwater is
relatively small, but it proposes allowing Waukesha to bypass a 2008 agreement
among Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces that prevents the withdrawal of
drinking water from any of the five Great Lakes by communities that are not
located on the shores of one of those lakes.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, an outspoken opponent of any
weakening of this Great Lakes Compact, may have something to say about Walker’s
Department of Natural Resources approving the Waukesha diversion.
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| Walker |
More importantly, Walker’s strategy for winning the
presidency relies on him carrying the states of the Upper Midwest, which have
turned decidedly Democratic over the past 40 years of presidential elections. In
fact, Walker’s ability to win gubernatorial elections in 2010 and again in 2014
in the face of President Obama’s two victories in Wisconsin is among the
governor’s biggest selling points.
So, approving the
Waukesha water diversion – or remaining mum about it for as long as possible –
could hurt Walker’s overall campaign plan, which has put the governor as a
favorite to win the GOP nomination.
scene for The Detroit News, wrote this weekend about the issue for his hometown
newspaper, the Traverse City Record-Eagle:
“Snyder is a prime leader among governors on Great Lakes
issues. It remains to be seen how he’ll respond if Walker supports the city of
Waukesha’s plan to divert 10.1 million gallons of water a day from the Great
Lakes.
“Citing a … news report that a Wisconsin state agency has
‘a positive draft review of the city’s plan,’ Traverse City-based GOP activist
and columnist Dennis Lennox said approval by Walker ‘won’t help’ his
presidential ambitions.”
Mackinac conference could be key
When Walker speaks at the Michigan GOP’s Mackinac Island
conference in September – he was added to the list of speakers earlier today — he
better be ready to address this issue.
While some estimates indicate that Waukesha only plans to
circumvent the Great Lakes Compact by diverting one-millionth of 1 percent of
all Great Lakes water per day, the city reportedly is in this predicament due
to a subpar job of managing its drinking water resources over many decades.
The municipality needs freshwater from Lake Michigan for municipal
drinking water because the underground aquifers that it tapped in the past are
now partially contaminated with deadly radium. And the southeast Wisconsin cities,
combined with nearby Chicago, have recklessly drained deep water wells for so
long that they are nearly tapped dry.
approval by the Wisconsin DNR of the water diversion plan after five years of
debate, pointed out that Waukesha is under a court order to provide radium-free drinking water for its residents by 2018.
The Great Lakes Compact, designed to protect the
ecosystem of the largest freshwater body in the world, requires that any water
removed from the lakes must be returned in equal amounts. Wisconsin’s answer is
to allow Waukesha to return treated water from its sewage treatment plant to
Lake Michigan via a tributary known as the Foot River.
fact, borders the Mississippi River watershed to the west.
The obvious concern among environmentalists, conservationists,
fishing groups and duck hunters is that a Waukesha exception could open the
flood gates for the drought-stricken Southwest, which could cite the precedent
that allows the shipment of Great Lakes Water outside of the Great Lakes Basin.
Shoddy environmental track record
pro-environment group comprised of journalists and scientists, recently wrote
this about the Waukesha water diversion plan:
“There was a time in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries when this southeast Wisconsin town was known throughout the Great
Lakes Basin for its ample supplies of pure water. The aquifers underlying the
forests and meadows served up water of such taste and compelling clarity that
local spas marketed the health restoring qualities to city dwellers in nearby
Milwaukee and Chicago.
“A century later Waukesha is a much bigger city and its
water supplies are again attracting considerable attention from its Great Lakes
neighbors.
Waukesha’s deep groundwater aquifers are contaminated and becoming exhausted.
Almost a year ago, in October 2013, the city of nearly 71,000 residents
formally proposed to fix its groundwater water supply problem by tapping
surface water from Lake Michigan provided by the water treatment plant in Oak
Creek, another Milwaukee suburb, 31 miles to the east.
have transported in a pipeline is 10.1 million gallons a day, or 1 millionth of
1 percent of the total supply of water in the Great Lakes, according to city
figures. But that seemingly trivial withdrawal has stirred a legal,
environmental, and potential diplomatic tempest in the Great Lakes Basin. The
reason: In seeking water from Lake Michigan, Waukesha’s proposal has become the
first formal test of the water diversion rules under the 2008 Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.”
Waukesha cannot meet the 2018 court order with a Lake Michigan option and has released a press release in November 2014 stating the earliest date to complete construction would be 2020.
Waukesha can install HMO filters on the 3 remaining deep aquifer wells for a fraction of a Lake Michigan supply.
The deep aquifer has risen over 100 feet, the highest level since the 1980's.
The sole purpose of this application is to get Waukesha off the deep aquifer so the surrounding wealthy communities will have the aquifer for growth and expansion.
Not one community on the deep aquifer other than Waukesha has implemented a water conservation program.
Waukesha does not need another water supply. Especially one that will raise water and sewer rates higher than a permanent property tax increase greater than a 50% city tax increase on an average property valuation.