Anything to Get That Lake Michigan Water

Matt Milless: "Gone" ~Enlarge

When it comes to diverting Great Lakes water, Waukesha, Wisconsin takes the Liquid Chutzpah Award.  Now it needs the water not so much to replace radium-tainted groundwater, it needs the water to support the Milwaukee water hub initiative.

As Jim Rowen puts it, "The coalition is deflecting us from this fact: Waukesha's draft application for Lake Michigan water seeks permission to acquire far more water than it now uses - - in part to serve to large swaths of open land south and west of Waukesha's that significantly expands the size of the city."

That wasn't the intent of the diversion exception in the Great Lakes Compact -- neither was prestige or water hubs.