Waukesha — City officials expect to revive their dormant request for Lake Michigan water with Wednesday's delivery of 1,000 pages of documents to the state Department of Natural Resources in Madison.
The DNR has been waiting since December for the lengthy supplement so that regulators could determine whether the application is complete and begin reviewing the merits of Waukesha's request to purchase an average of 10.9 million gallons a day of water from the lake. Maximum daily use might reach 18.5 million gallons a day in summer, according to the application.
In responding to the agency's December demand for additional details on 49 separate issues in the application, the Waukesha Water Utility and its consultants provided analysis of everything from water supply options and the impact of water conservation efforts on reducing use, to the environmental impacts of discharging treated wastewater to Underwood Creek in Brookfield as a means of returning treated water to Lake Michigan.
The city's conclusion remains the same: Lake Michigan is the only reasonable water supply alternative to meet the city's future need.
Other options, including deep and shallow wells or multiple sources of wells and quarries, are not reasonable choices because they are less protective of the environment, less protective of public health and cost more than a Lake Michigan supply, Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak said.
Waukesha's mayor, Jeff Scrima, disagrees with Duchniak and the utility's consultants.
"The simple truth is, we do have multiple options," Scrima said Wednesday. The mayor prefers use of several sources - existing deep wells tainted with radium, more shallow wells and wells built on the banks of the Fox River and water in local quarries.
State regulators will check the supplement to determine if it provides sufficient detail to begin a review of the city's request, DNR water use section chief Eric Ebersberger said Wednesday.
A 2008 Great Lakes protection compact governing water withdrawals generally prohibits diversions outside the lakes' drainage basins. An exception can be made for a community such as Waukesha that is located entirely out of the watershed but within a county that straddles the basin boundary.
Waukesha is the first community outside the basin to request a diversion since the compact went into effect. Wisconsin and each of the other seven Great Lakes states must approve the city's request, under terms of the compact, a process that might take up to 14 more months, Duchniak said.
The public can read the supplement at the Waukesha Water Utility, 115 Delafield St.
A copy of supplement documents will be posted on the utility's website - www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/982 - by Friday.