582 - Successful Implementation of the Compact: Collaborating for Approval of a Lake Michigan Diversion with Return Flow for Waukesha, WI

The City of Waukesha, Wisconsin needed a new municipal water source to address naturally occurring radium contamination and a groundwater supply that was drawn-down hundreds of feet after decades of pumping from Wisconsin and Illinois communities. Located west of the Lake Michigan drainage basin, the city could nearly see that sustainable source of water, but the governance of it was untested. Lake Michigan, part of the Great Lakes basin that is bordered by eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, is now governed by two agreements - the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact for U.S. states and a companion Sustainable Water Resources Agreement to include Ontario and Quebec. These two agreements set the framework for management of Great Lakes water.
This presentation will summarize the city’s journey of obtaining a new water supply as the first (and only) community wholly outside the Great Lakes basin to successfully receive permission for Lake Michigan water. This presentation will provide an overview of the planning, permitting, and engineering with a focus on how the city is returning water to Lake Michigan so there is no negative impact on lake levels, but the water dependent resources of a Lake Michigan tributary benefit. This presentation will also provide insights on key elements that allowed this project to be successful from perspectives of permitting, team leadership, collaboration with regulators, elected officials, and NGOs, and obtaining community buy-in for what was the largest public works project in modern city history.