Update – Waukesha Diversion is Approved

Today, the Great Lakes Governors voted to allow the community of Waukesha, Wisconsin to divert water from Lake Michigan to supplement their water supply.

Waukesha is the first municipality to be allowed to divert water under a provision of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (the Compact), which bans water diversions except for communities that straddle the Great Lakes basin divide when they are able to prove they meet a set of strict criteria.

While this isn’t the news we were hoping for, it was the dedication of residents like you that made sure that additional conditions were placed on the approval of the application. This goes a long way to improving Waukesha’s ability to meet the Compact requirements. Waukesha and Wisconsin have a lot of work to do to meet these requirements.

It is heartwarming to know so many people care about the Great Lakes as much as we do at Freshwater Future, but changes are needed to ensure voices like yours are heard and are part of the decision making process.

Our work and the work of the Compact Council are not complete with the decision made today. Freshwater Future will be monitoring Waukesha and the State of Wisconsin as they implement the Compact Council’s conditions.