Wait on Water Compact Worries New Berlin

By Sean Ryan

Milwaukee aldermen are proposing waiting until every state involved in the Great Lakes compact ratifies it before the city negotiates potential Lake Michigan water sales.

If approved, the resolution could delay any discussion over a potential water sale to New Berlin, which already is negotiating with Milwaukee aldermen, New Berlin Mayor Jack Chiovatero said. The radium levels in New Berlin’s water supply puts it in violation of federal rules, and it needs either to spend up to $6.5 million installing radium filters or to buy about 1.2 million gallons of water a day from Milwaukee.

New Berlin, in Waukesha County, kept the radium levels down this year by turning off its contaminated deep wells, but that’s causing water levels in its shallow wells to drop, Chiovatero said. He said he wasn’t sure if the city could meet its water demand without the contaminated wells next year.

“We definitely have to do something by next summer,” he said, “but I’m going to try to keep us in compliance.”

The Great Lakes Compact, signed by the Council of Great Lakes Governors in 2005, would create a legal framework for use of Great Lakes water outside of the lakes’ water basin. To become official, the eight states and two Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes must ratify it, and then the U.S. Congress also must approve it.

Milwaukee Alderman Michael Murphy said he wanted the compact’s legal structure in place before the city makes any deals.

“The principle objective of this is not singling out New Berlin,” said Murphy, lead sponsor of the city proposal. “It really is looking at the larger perspective.”

The hope in Madison is that Wisconsin could introduce legislation ratifying the Great Lakes Compact by the end of the year, said Todd Ambs, Water Division administrator at the Department of Natural Resources. A legislative committee that was to draft the legislation dissolved in September, and, like most matters before the Legislature, the proposal was put on hold as legislators debated only the budget.

Of the eight states, only Illinois and Minnesota have done so. Legislation has been introduced in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana, and the two houses of the legislature in New York State have passed different versions of a ratification bill. A bill has passed the General Assembly in Ohio, but not the Senate.

A coalition of nonprofit groups and southeastern Wisconsin elected officials are expected to gather at Pier Wisconsin today to pressure lawmakers to pass Great Lakes legislation, said Phil Walzak, spokesman for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

“Mayor Barrett has come to believe that before any discussion of water diversions is had, the state must ratify the compact,” Walzak said.

The discussions between Milwaukee and New Berlin over water sales already have moved beyond just price-per-gallon, with city aldermen introducing such subjects as mass transit, Chiovatero said.

Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman said he wants any deal for regional water sales to include a regional transit authority that would have Waukesha County contributing money for mass transit systems. Tying the various discussions together was an approach seconded by Murphy and council President Willie Hines’ office.

“If Waukesha and New Berlin could actively partner with Milwaukee to help address our transportation and employment needs, for example, they might be better positioned to solicit help when they experience a water shortage,” Alex Runner, staff assistant to Hines, wrote in an e-mail to The Daily Reporter on Monday. “As it stands now, I don’t think those areas have offered a compelling reason for the Milwaukee Common Council to totally disregard the ratification process of the Great Lakes Charter Annex or to bypass the Council of Great Lakes Governors.”

Chiovatero said he’s happy to work with the city on transit issues because employers in his city need more employees.

“Right now I’m working with Waukesha County and Milwaukee County to get a new bus line,” he said. “I can work with them (the city). I need the employees.”

The original version of Murphy’s legislation would’ve required Congress to ratify the Great Lakes Compact before Milwaukee would negotiate. However Murphy said he’ll amend it at this morning’s Public Works Committee meeting to require ratification only by the eight state legislatures and two Canadian provinces.

“It’s quicker than waiting for the U.S. Congress,” Chiovatero said, “but it still binds me.”

Originally published by Sean Ryan.

(c) 2007 Daily Reporter (Milwaukee). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.