WAUKESHA - Draft copies of a new Great Lakes Basin Water Resources Compact outline a plan that would allow Waukesha to apply for connection to Lake Michigan water, The Freeman has learned...
The city of Waukesha is west of the subcontinental divide that marks the western edge of the basin. But the eastern part of Waukesha County is within that basin, particularly those parts east of Sunny Slope Road in New Berlin. In fact, the subcontinental divide runs nearly through the middle of Brookfield Square...
Bob Biebel, the special projects engineer for a regional water study being conducted by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, said the Lake Michigan hookup presented in the draft compact is good news.
"It offers another opportunity to solve the problem," he said Wednesday.
Biebel is heading the SEWRPC two-year study on water use and he said each possible option will be weighted in that review.
But Biebel said a major impediment for Waukesha could be dealing with the return flow of water back to Milwaukee and Lake Michigan. The draft compact still calls for Waukesha wastewater to be returned to Milwaukee so there is not a steady reduction in Lake Michigan. That would require a costly piping infrastructure to be built, he said.
http://www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2005/June_05/06162005_03.asp