Seems like when someone says 'Great Lakes water,'
the subject turns to Foxconn and Waukesha, given Wisconsin's outlier status as the Great Lakes water diverter:
* The Great Lakes Compact recently turned ten years old; Michigan writer Gary Wilson provided water analyst Peter Annin's assessment of the Compact and took note of the Waukesha and Foxconn diversion controversies, here.
I remember posting over the years how the projected project costs for Waukesha water ratepayers had escalated, writing five years ago:
Time will tell if that capacity is in fact built, represents standard redundancy to covers drought, and/or emergencies, or accommodates growth.
* About the Foxconn diversion - - I'd mentioned it recently in connection with the Great Lakes governors' annual meeting, and let me remind readers that I've been posting a running archive on Foxconn since June, 2017, with scores of entries. This is the most recent update:
the subject turns to Foxconn and Waukesha, given Wisconsin's outlier status as the Great Lakes water diverter:
Success, regional conflict mark decade of the Great Lakes Compact
Water Wars author Annin sees skirmishes like Waukesha and Foxconn as part of the growing pains of the Compact. It’s sorting out the kinks after initial tests. But he is quick to remind that the agreement’s primary mission is still to ban large scale diversions and it has done that.* Speaking of Waukesha, I am told that it is preliminarily looking at federal lending participation as an option to cover a substantial portion of the project's cost which is now pegged at more than $264 million.
I remember posting over the years how the projected project costs for Waukesha water ratepayers had escalated, writing five years ago:
The proposed project cost has risen from a 2009 estimate of $78 million - - an amount that would have been covered by Waukesha's run at federal project financing aid - - to a current projection of $206 million.The project now envisioned would include construction of a pumping station to move water supplied by the Milwaukee Water Works with a 15.2 million gallon-per-day capacity, or close to twice the 8.2 gallon-daily-average approved by the Great Lakes governors.
Time will tell if that capacity is in fact built, represents standard redundancy to covers drought, and/or emergencies, or accommodates growth.
* About the Foxconn diversion - - I'd mentioned it recently in connection with the Great Lakes governors' annual meeting, and let me remind readers that I've been posting a running archive on Foxconn since June, 2017, with scores of entries. This is the most recent update:
Mt. Pleasant pays more millions for Foxconn land seizures. Also lost: government credibility.