Great Lakes Water Diversion

MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin and regional conservation groups registered their comments with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over the application submitted by the city of New Berlin requesting a diversion of Great Lakes water. 

The coalition is calling for DNR to delay consideration of the application until the Wisconsin State Legislature has been given time to consider the Great Lakes Compact.

The Great Lakes Compact, introduced in July 2004, makes it almost impossible to divert large amounts of water from the Great Lakes to other parts of the country. The proposal leaves the door open for Great Lakes water to be shipped to cities in the region, but not to places like the fast-growing southwest United States.

The compact has to be approved by Congress and the legislatures in each of the Great Lakes states. That could take several years. Wisconsin has yet to vote on the legislation.

The coalition called for DNR to wait until the compact is voted on to address deficiencies in New Berlin's application, rather than prematurely moving forward on the water diversion. The coalition maintains that any decision by the DNR before Wisconsin passes the compact will put the state at odds with other Great Lakes states.

Jodi Habush-Sinykin, attorney at Midwest Environmental Advocates stated: "An issue as important as this - which will affect hundreds of thousands of people far into the future - deserves a careful, deliberate process.  Accordingly, the process for considering any Great Lakes basin diversion application must be open and transparent to the public."