Waukesha’s application to divert drinking water from Lake Michigan has been put on hold for at least a week.
Julie Ekman, Minnesota’s representative on a multi-state committee reviewing the plan, asked for the delay Wednesday morning. She said Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton wants to give people time to react to some wording the panel added in recent days.
“There’s some concern that since we have made some substantial changes over what the application is saying, that the public hasn’t had a formal opportunity to react to that,” she said.
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Eckman also said Minnesota wants to look at Waukesha’s plan to send treated wastewater down the Root River through Racine, and whether enforcement and accountability on the diversion project can be strengthened.
Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly said he didn’t expect the delay, but said the committee is working hard and faces a big decision on whether to let his city become the first community just outside the Great Lakes Basin to get lake water, under the terms of a 2008 agreement.
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