Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly and Racine Mayor John Dickert visited Marquette Law School on February 4 for a wide-ranging conversation about Waukesha’s application to divert water from Lake Michigan pursuant to the Great Lakes Compact.  At the time, few observers expressed confidence about the application’s prospects for approval.  Now, after several intervening meetings by the Regional Body that governs the Compact, we have more clarity on a path forward.

The Regional Body has offered a revised plan for consideration under which it could grant a conditional approval if, in exchange, Waukesha accepts a smaller water service area (and a diversion reduced by a corresponding amount.)  In its application papers, Waukesha took the position that state law required it to request enough water to supply a water service area contiguous with its sewer service area.  The boundaries extended well beyond the city limits and included parts of the City of Pewaukee and the Towns of Delafield, Genesee, and Waukesha.  During a Regional Body meeting on April 21, it became clear that the expanded service area was a sticking point for several other states, all of which hold a veto power over the application.  Partly, this is because the exception to the Compact’s ban on diversions refers only to a “community,” in the singular; it makes no reference to a water service area.  The Regional Body therefore drafted, and yesterday posted to its website, a revised map showing a reduced service area that would decrease the estimated diversion request from about 10.1 million gallons of water per day (MGD) to about 8.2 MGD.  Waukesha leaders appear willing to accept the change: “[W]e’re approaching a workable solution for residents of the city,” said Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak.  The decreased water service area may satisfy the requirements of the Compact.  But does it simultaneously violate state law for Waukesha’s water service area to be non-contiguous with its sewer service area, as the city originally posited?  The answer isn’t readily apparent, but some statutory calisthenics reveal the dilemma.