Want to Learn More About City’s Great Lakes Application?

A series of neighborhood meetings that are designed to educate the public about the city’s search for a future water supply will be held in the next two months.

Some city aldermen and General Manager Dan Duchniak are holding the meetings from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. A 30- to 45-minute presentation will begin at 6:45 p.m. The following districts are set for their neighborhood discussions:

• District 1, Alderman Terry Thieme, Feb. 15,
• District 9, Alderwoman Kathleen Cummings, March 1,
• District 12, Alderman Rick Hastings, March 15,
• District 6, Alderman Brian White, March 29,

Common Council members Andy Reiland, Joan Francoeur and Paul Ybarra are in the process of scheduling neighborhood meetings, according to Duchniak.

“We plan to educate the community on how we arrived at this point, the options considered, the Great Lakes Application process, and what will happen as we move forward,” Duchniak said in an e-mail.

Thieme, who is a member of the Waukesha Water Commission, encouraged area residents Tuesday night to attend the neighborhood meetings to learn more about the city’s application to receive Great Lakes water.

“This is really an important thing that the water utility is doing,” Thieme said.

Waukesha is looking to purchase Lake Michigan water from Milwaukee, Oak Creek or Racine as it needs to reduce the radium levels that are currently in the city’s water supply. The city is under pressure to meet a June 2018 radium compliance deadline and is in the process of developing a new water supply to address declining water levels and quality in its groundwater wells.

Under the Great Lakes Compact, the city needs approval from all Great Lakes states to pipe the water past the Subcontinental Divide. The city, if its application is approved, is required to return the water to the Great Lakes.