Posted: Nov. 13, 2008

Waukesha - Acting under provisions of the Great Lakes Water Compact, Waukesha officials revealed details Thursday of plans to seek Lake Michigan water and return treated wastewater to the lake, likely via Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa.

City officials briefed environmental leaders Thursday and said water leaving its wastewater treatment plant passes state muster to be deposited into Underwood Creek, which flows into the Menomonee River and then into Lake Michigan.

"The city's very high quality of wastewater treatment meets all state water quality standards and is superior to that of lakeside communities," Waukesha Water Utility manager Dan Duchniak said.

Melissa Malott, program director of Clean Wisconsin, said she appreciated city officials being upfront about their plans.

"I think they're being thoughtful, but we need to learn a lot more," she said.

Under the terms of the compact, Waukesha would be required to return treated wastewater to the Great Lakes basin if it is to receive a diversion of Lake Michigan water.

Waukesha, which lies outside the Great Lakes drainage basin but needs a source of clean water to replace radium-contaminated underground water, currently returns treated wastewater to the Fox River, where it flows to the Mississippi River.

Waukesha is also considering sending treated wastewater to the Root River or piping it directly to the lake with a deposit point likely to be around St Francis.

The compact, intended to prevent shipping Great Lakes water to locations outside its basin, takes effect Dec. 8. The law allows communities within counties that straddle the basin to access lake water.

Using Underwood Creek for return flow is likely the most cost-effective method for Waukesha, according to a regional water-use study being done by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. The study also recommends that Waukesha and several other area cities abandon groundwater wells and switch to lake water.

To drain wastewater to Underwood Creek, the Waukesha Water Utility would need to build about a 10-mile pipeline from its treatment plant under an abandoned railway leading to the creek.

Cheryl Nenn of the Milwaukee Riverkeeper group said the Waukesha meeting didn't provide a sense of other options.

"It seems like the Underwood Creek return flow is a foregone conclusion," Nenn said. "It left a feeling that there's so much more that they need to be looking at."

Nenn said that the compact calls for treated wastewater to be returned closely to the acquisition source. It's assumed that Waukesha will get water from the Milwaukee Water Works, which is a distance from Underwood Creek, she said.

Jodi Habush Sinykin of Midwest Environmental Advocates predicted that Waukesha residents and others reviewing the water application will ask for cost comparisons between acquiring lake water and finding new sources from local shallow aquifers.

Duchniak said getting lake water and returning it to a tributary would cost an estimated $60 million.

The aquifer that serves the Waukesha Water Utility's 19,000 customers is severely drawn down from years of over pumping. The drawdown has contributed to aquifer water containing unsafe levels of radium, a naturally occurring substance linked to cancer.

Waukesha has pulled up groundwater with other contaminants so high that it is essentially salt water with temperatures as high as 98 degrees.

The city is under a state order to reduce radium concentration levels and has invested about $13.5 million to comply with clean water standards. Obtaining lake water would rid the city of its radium troubles and allow the deep aquifer to recover, Duchniak said.

Duchniak told environmental leaders Thursday that return flow to a Lake Michigan tributary would provide fish and other aquatic life with deeper and more oxygen-rich water flows, especially during dry periods. During flooding, Waukesha can halt return flows and dump wastewater back into the Fox River, he said.

A formal application process will begin with Common Council consideration on Jan. 13, followed by public informational hearings. The city is likely to apply to the Department of Natural Resources for Lake Michigan water mid-2009.