Majority At Racine Hearing Oppose Waukesha Water Diversion Plan

Criticism of the state Department of Natural Resource’s preliminary approval of Waukesha getting drinking water from Lake Michigan continued on Tuesday night in Racine.

The last of three public hearings on Waukesha’s proposed Great Lakes diversion drew far more opponents of the plan than supporters.

Many speakers in Rachine didn’t care for Waukesha expecting to return treated wastewater to Lake Michigan by pumping the water into the Root River.

Sierra Club member Melissa Warner lives near the Root in Caledonia.

“Whatever the amount of return flow, it will be flashy, peak and ebb every day and that pulsating water will cause more damage than a steady flow,” Warner said.

But, Dan Duchniak of the Waukesha water utility, said most wastewater treatment plants in Wisconsin discharge treated wastewater to local rivers and streams.

If DNR officials give final approval to Waukesha’s water request, the application will go to other Great Lakes states.