Waukesha Water Commission recommends bid for Great Lakes water

Published on: 3/18/2010

The 5-member Waukesha Water Commission Thursday unanimously recommended the Common Council approve an application for Great Lakes drinking water.

Commission President Dan Warren described a bid for Lake Michigan water as "our most cost effective, most sustainable and most reliable long-term solution for the citizens of Waukesha." It would cost an estimated $164 million to obtain lake water, about $10 million to $13 million less than two other options using wells only, according to estimates from city consultants.

City officials are considering lake water as a substitute for radium-contaminated water pumped out of a deep sandstone aquifer.

Mayor Larry Nelson, a member of the commission, said the search for a new source of water is "the number one health and safety issue facing the City of Waukesha."

Nelson will ask the Common Council to approve a Great Lakes application at its April 8 meeting. Wisconsin and each of the other seven Great Lakes states must approve the city's diversion application.