Action Needed Soon: Waukesha Water Diversion

In May 2015, WisDNR put this on its website:

“The DNR plans to release drafts of the Technical Review and EIS in June 2015 and expects to hold public hearings this summer. A public comment period of 45 days or longer will begin when the draft Technical Review and draft EIS are released. A full description of the public participation process is available on the ‘Public Participation’ tab.”

At this time, Wis DNR also released a series of documents from late 2014 to May 2015. “The ‘Proposal’ tab includes the City of Waukesha’s application submitted to the DNR on October 14, 2013 and subsequent documents submitted to the DNR by the City of Waukesha in response to agency questions.” You can download these documents via the DNR website.

WEAL and its partners in the Wisconsin Compact Implementation Coalition (CIC) have had a singular mission since the legal adoption of the Great Lakes Compact in 2008: to ensure a thorough legal, economic, environmental and public review of the first application for an out-of-basin diversion of Great Lakes waters under the Compact, in full recognition of the precedent-setting impacts of this first application. To that end, we will continue to insist on a complete and exact adherence to the high standards set forth in the Great Lakes Compact.

We need your help in the upcoming months to:

· Attend and make your public comment at the series of public meetings WiDNR will hold in the next two months.

· Comment in writing to WiDNR.

· Write letters to the editor in support of respecting the Great Lakes Compact, preserving the water resources of the Great Lakes, and protecting the local water resources in the City of Waukesha and the towns surrounding it.

Watch this website for an announcement of the DNR’s documents release. A CIC website of documents and information will be launched very soon and notice of that will go out as well.

If you have information to share or other ways you’d like to support this work, please contact:

Laurie Longtine

or [email protected]

262-542-7929