Milwaukee OK To Negotiate A Waukesha Water Deal On Tap Today

A resolution to green-light the City of Milwaukee's ability to negotiate a possible sale of Lake Michigan water to the City of Waukesha is on today's Common Council agenda.

Waukesha is legally obliged to locate and provide a new water supply to customers by June, 2018 and has submitted an application to access Lake Michigan water under the terms of an eight-state Great Lakes management Compact. The Wisconsin DNR is still reviewing the application - - the first of its kind - - and the review by the other states has not begun.

All eight states must approve the application for it to be implemented, and identifying a willing seller is an element of a complete application.

While saying in the application it prefers Milwaukee as the seller, Waukesha has said it could buy water from Racine or Oak Creek. A connection with Milwaukee is the least expensive of the three, given its proximity to Waukesha, and existing infrastructure.

Milwaukee city water sale policy, separate from the Great Lakes Compact's procedures, includes demonstrations of cooperation from a water buying community on regional jobs, housing and transit issues - - likely among thorny issues accompanying water sale negotiations because they underscore the long, contentious relationship between Milwaukee and Waukesha over regional cooperation.

A resolution to authorize such discussions with Waukesha was recently approved by the Common Council's Public Works Committee, and that is the resolution forwarded for full Council consideration today.

But Waukesha said it would not accept the water sale negotiation as approved by the Milwaukee council committee because it did not authorize negotiations covering a re-drawn, broader water Waukesha water service territory that includes portions of four neighboring municipalities named in the diversion application at the behest of state officials and regional planners.

The resolution being considered today by the full Common Council was adopted in the Public Works Committee without objection and has the backing of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Milwaukee fears the broader service territory will kick off development inaccessible to and disadvantageous for Milwaukee interests and residents; Waukesha says any such development would be minimal, and that state and regional planners, not Waukesha, drew the new water service territory map.

The outcome of the disagreement over water service territory, and hence the scope of a water sale negotiation - - or even if there will be a negotiation, let alone a sale and with waht monetary and regional terms  - - is not clear.

Though the Council meeting begins at 9 a.m., and is available to Milwaukee Time Warner subscribers on Channel 25.

But the item to authorize the beginning of negotiations is in the Public Works Committee, and may not be taken up until sometime after 9 a.m.

I'll keep one eye on the TV for you.