Flaws in water service not set for fix until '08

New Berlin wants solution sooner

By ERIN RICHARDS
erichards@journalsentinel.com

Posted: July 10, 2007

New Berlin - Upgrades aren't planned until 2008 on "physical constraints" in Milwaukee Water Works' distribution system, which failed to meet the high demand of users in New Berlin before the July 4 holiday and prompted a lawn-sprinkling ban to conserve the reservoirs for firefighting purposes, a Milwaukee city official said.

Mayor Jack Chiovatero said New Berlin did not experience any water problems this weekend after he repealed the lawn-sprinkling ban on Friday and returned the city to an even-odd day sprinkling schedule.

The circumstances left him and the utility committee wondering: What changed and caused the water shortage July 1?

In an e-mail, Milwaukee Water Works Superintendent Carrie Lewis told Chiovatero that New Berlin was a "relatively new large customer" for Milwaukee Water Works, and that it was "gaining more experience" figuring out how to meet the community's demand in times of peak use.

"The pipes feeding in from Milwaukee are a bit undersized, and I'm asking (Lewis) to move up that schedule for upgrades," Chiovatero said.

The water shortage occurred at a critical time, as the city is awaiting approval to purchase more Milwaukee water to serve more areas of the city.

Purchasing the water would keep New Berlin from having to repair several contaminated deep water wells, which contain unacceptable levels of radium. City leaders are trying to move the plan along because a bid to repair the contaminated wells expires at the end of next month.

Chiovatero said he was optimistic that the state Department of Natural Resources would soon approve the city's request to run Milwaukee water through its entire sewer system. Only half of that utility area uses Milwaukee water. The other half is on a municipal well system.

The western part of the city uses private wells, and those residents would not be affected by the potential expansion of Milwaukee water.

Chiovatero said New Berlin does not need the water for development purposes and that it returns all the Milwaukee water it uses, as well as the water from 1,800 municipal wells, back to Lake Michigan. Chiovatero's anticipated meeting with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett about the issue has not yet been scheduled.

Barrett chief of staff Patrick Curley said he still thought it would be difficult for Milwaukee's Common Council to approve diverting water to areas west of the subcontinental divide.

"A decision on this is pressing for New Berlin, but the mayor has already said he won't entertain a sale until the state Legislature approves the Great Lakes compact agreement," said Milwaukee Ald. Mike Murphy. "It's premature to stake out a decision."

Chiovatero said New Berlin would be eligible for Milwaukee water automatically under the new compact.

From the July 10, 2007 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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