A council representing the eight Great Lakes states has voted to allow Waukesha, Wisconsin, unprecedented access to Lake Michigan as its drinking water source. The city of 70,000 in the Milwaukee suburbs won unanimous approval from eight states that are members of a regional compact designed to prevent water raids from afar.
Waukesha is only 17 miles from Lake Michigan but lies just outside the Great Lakes watershed boundary. It needed unanimous approval from the compact states to draw water from the lake. The city says its groundwater is tainted with radium.
The council approved several amendments designed to ensure that conditions it placed on Waukesha's application could be enforced.
A regional compact prohibits most diversions of water across the watershed boundary, but creates a potential exception for communities within counties that straddle the line. Waukesha is the first community to request water under that provision.
