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Water use in 10 major Waukesha County communities has grown only 4% since 1997 despite a 9% growth in population, leading water experts to challenge critics who argue that little is being done to preserve water resources.
 Waukesha County |
| Water Usage |
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Graphic/Journal Sentinel |
| Quotable |
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- John Jansen, |
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- Dan Duchniak, |
Figures from the state Public Service Commission reveal that water use has risen from 7.3 billion gallons in 1997 to 7.6 billion gallons in 2004, although the City of Waukesha's water use went down 8% and Delafield's decreased 20% over that same period.
"There is a perception out there that Waukesha County's growth is wild and out of control," Waukesha Water Utility Manager Dan Duchniak said. "These numbers show that that is not true."
Duchniak said he is troubled when Waukesha County is branded as a place of unchecked development where a vital resource - drinking water - is mismanaged. Those accusations can be especially damaging to communities looking to Lake Michigan as a new source of drinking water, he said.
Duchniak said he has met with environmental groups, such Midwest Environmental Advocates and Sierra Club, and tried to change their skeptical opinions about water conservation efforts and residential growth in Waukesha County.
To get Great Lakes water to thirsty communities in central Waukesha County, officials must overcome the image of their being wasteful, and convince a council of eight governors that the move wouldn't harm the Lake Michigan basin.
Historic reluctance by the governors to ship more water outside of the Great Lakes basin, along with a recent draft proposal by a study group to exclude such water diversion, could make it tough for communities west of the subcontinental divide.
The divide runs roughly north-south along a line near Sunny Slope Road. That means a potential battle to tap into Lake Michigan could be a tough one for communities with areas west of the divide, such as Brookfield, Waukesha and the village and city of Pewaukee.
To cast off the negative reputation and raise public awareness of water conservation, officials from Waukesha and Waukesha County are talking with the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County officials.
Among things under consideration is launching a Web site in a regional effort to protect and conserve water resources in this part of the state.
Duchniak said he wants the public to embrace water conservation in the same way it accepts responsibility for recycling plastics, glass and paper.
"It took years to get the public to accept recycling, and I think this Web site can start doing the same for water conservation," he said. "But we can't do it alone. We need to include Milwaukee."
The site is set to launch in September with at least the Waukesha component.
Duchniak said he believes that water customers have some awareness of water issues, noting that he sees fewer people using municipal water on their lawns even during this dry summer.
State records show that New Berlin's 2004 consumption of nearly 1.2 billion gallons is its lowest in four years. Brookfield's 1.4 billion gallons in 2004 is also its lowest in four years. Hartland's 2004 usage is also a four-year low.
Duchniak said the usage reduction in 2004 was partly due to a wet spring and early summer, but water use rebounded during a hot September. Since 2002, Delafield and Oconomowoc have had declines in water use.
Dave Hart, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin Extension in Madison who is studying the aquifer underneath Waukesha County, said statistics show that individual property owners are using less water.
The 4% growth in countywide water use is due largely to population growth, Hart said, not poor water management, as some environmental groups are contending.
Hart is studying water usage in general throughout Waukesha County, including private wells. Such wells, however, have little impact on municipal water systems, because they are quite shallow and are generally replenished by the homeowners' septic systems.
Mukwonago, which had a 15% increase in population over the past eight years, showed a steady increase in water use although usage slipped somewhat last year.
Muskego, with a 27% increase in population over eight years, also showed a steady increase in water use. In 2004, the city had its largest volume in eight years.
Industrial water usage in the City of Waukesha fell from about 80 million gallons in 1997 to 48 million gallons last year, according to utility records.
Yet, for decades - especially during sharp periods of growth in the 1940s and 1960s - more and more water was pumped from the deep underground aquifer, which lies 1,000 to 2,000 feet below ground. That is to blame for its declining water levels, Hart said.
Most of the water that utilities currently pump is so-called "older water" from near the bottom of the aquifer. That water is contaminated with radium, a naturally occurring radioactive substance linked to bone cancer, forcing utilities to implement expensive means to decrease radium concentrations.
In addition to Lake Michigan, an alternative source of drinking water for utilities is drawing from shallow aquifers, which are ribbons of groundwater near lakes and streams, just hundreds of feet deep. Unlike the deep aquifer, shallow aquifers can be rapidly replenished by rain and other precipitation.
"People say southeast Wisconsin is running out of water, and that's absolutely not true. There's plenty of water. It's a matter of how it's used," said John Jansen, senior geoscientist with Ruekert & Mielke Inc., an engineering firm.
People say southeast Wisconsin is running out of water, and that’s
absolutely not true. There’s plenty of water. It’s a matter of how it’s
used.
