Waukesha - Building the pipeline and pumping stations needed to convey Lake Michigan water from Oak Creek or Racine to Waukesha would cost an estimated $97 million to $148 million more than a connection to Milwaukee, Waukesha officials disclosed in documents made public Tuesday.
The state Department of Natural Resources in June requested preliminary cost estimates for connecting to Oak Creek and Racine. The DNR posted the documents Tuesday on its website.
Waukesha's application for Lake Michigan water submitted to the DNR in May included only a $164 million estimate for building a connection to Milwaukee.
The city has proposed discharging its treated wastewater to Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa regardless of its lake water supplier. The creek empties into the Menomonee River, a tributary of the Milwaukee River, so Waukesha would return most of its purchased water to the lake, as required by a Great Lakes protection compact.
Cost estimates released Tuesday show why Waukesha officials have said Milwaukee is their preferred supplier.
Constructing an 18-mile-long pipeline from Oak Creek to Waukesha, with a pumping station at the Oak Creek water treatment plant and a booster pump at Greenfield Park in West Allis, are among the major expenses in total estimated costs of $261 million for the project. That is $97 million more than a Milwaukee connection.
Connecting to Racine with a 30-mile pipeline comes at a greater cost.
Building the pipeline from Newman Road in Racine, with a pumping station at Newman Road and a booster pump station at 8 Mile Road, are the major pieces in a project estimated to cost $312 million. That is $148 million more than a Milwaukee connection.
Final costs will be based on negotiations with suppliers, so preliminary estimates should not be etched in stone, Don Gallo, an attorney representing Waukesha, says in a letter to DNR Secretary Matt Frank.
"These numbers are flexible, and the city will do everything in its power to successfully negotiate terms to bring the final cost down," Gallo says in the letter.
Project construction costs do not include the price of buying water from the three potential municipal suppliers.
The Oak Creek and Racine construction cost estimates were to be distributed for the first time to the Waukesha Common Council at its regular meeting Tuesday, Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak said.
"We will be actively seeking federal grants and other financing options that would help defray the cost," Duchniak says in a separate memo distributed Tuesday to the Common Council.
Without any federal grant assistance, a Milwaukee water supply would cost residential ratepayers an estimated $142.28 each quarter of the year, up from the current quarterly water charge of $66.85, Duchniak says in the memo.
Quarterly charges for an Oak Creek water supply, with no federal grants to offset construction costs, would be an estimated $191.83. A Racine connection would cost residents $211.39 per quarter.
Public meeting sought
Common Council President Paul Ybarra has asked the Waukesha Water Utility Commission to play host to an Oct. 18 public meeting on the city's application for a Lake Michigan water supply.
In a letter to Commission President Dan Warren, Ybarra proposes a "town hall meeting" at which residents could ask questions of experts involved in planning the application. Location and time of the meeting have not been confirmed.
"Hosting yet another public informational meeting would help our citizens understand the facts and science that led to our support of the application and also explain the extensive process that will guide the application as it goes forward," the letter says.
Plans for the informational meeting come after several months of criticisms of the application from Mayor Jeff Scrima.
Since taking office in early April, Scrima has stated his intention to pursue water sources other than Lake Michigan.
On June 8, the state Department of Natural Resources referred to the mayor's public opposition to the application in announcing it was suspending state review. The application must be approved by Wisconsin and each of the other seven Great Lakes states, under terms of a Great Lakes protection compact.