{"id":25644,"date":"2016-04-28T16:10:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T21:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=25644"},"modified":"2016-04-28T16:10:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T21:10:52","slug":"waukesha-diversion-application-inches-closer-to-conditional-approval-but-state-law-questions-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2016\/04\/waukesha-diversion-application-inches-closer-to-conditional-approval-but-state-law-questions-remain\/","title":{"rendered":"Waukesha Diversion Application Inches Closer To Conditional Approval, But State Law Questions Remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly and Racine Mayor John Dickert visited Marquette Law School on February 4 for a wide-ranging conversation<\/a> about \"Waukesha<\/a>Waukesha\u2019s application to divert water from Lake Michigan pursuant to the Great Lakes Compact.\u00a0 At the time, few observers expressed confidence about the application\u2019s prospects for approval.\u00a0 Now, after several intervening meetings by the Regional Body that governs the Compact, we have more clarity on a path forward.<\/p>\n

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.)\u00a0 In its application papers, Waukesha took the position<\/a> that state law required it to request enough water to supply a water service area contiguous with its sewer service area.\u00a0 The boundaries extended well beyond the city limits and included parts of the City of Pewaukee and the Towns of Delafield, Genesee, and Waukesha.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Partly, this is because the exception to the Compact\u2019s ban on diversions refers only to a \u201ccommunity,\u201d in the singular; it makes no reference to a water service area.\u00a0 The Regional Body therefore drafted, and yesterday posted to its website<\/a>, a revised map<\/a> 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.\u00a0 Waukesha leaders appear willing to accept the change: \u201c[W]e\u2019re approaching a workable solution for residents of the city,\u201d said Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak<\/a>.\u00a0 The decreased water service area may satisfy the requirements of the Compact.\u00a0 But does it simultaneously violate state law for Waukesha\u2019s water service area to be non-contiguous with its sewer service area, as the city originally posited?\u00a0 The answer isn\u2019t readily apparent, but some statutory calisthenics reveal the dilemma.<\/p>\n