Cheaper to switch to Dom Perignon
When discussing water in Waukesha, what often gets lost in the shouting is that this isn’t a new issue. It’s been studied a long time, and unfortunately Lake Michigan is the best option. We may have to look at the other options if our application fails, but if we’re going for Lake Michigan water the time to do it is now because of how long it will take to get it.
Candidate for mayor Jeff Scrima has been touting a plan to avoid looking for water elsewhere by planning to use wells, the Fox River and nearby quarries. Scrima’s plan got a thorough examination thanks to Alderman Paul Ybarra, and it’s $32 million more than getting water from Lake Michigan.
Nelson pointed out that Scrima’s alternative is the more expensive than the three options proposed by the city after years of research.“I think there is some significant facts in this study,” Nelson said. “What Mr. Scrima has been publicly proposing would cost taxpayers $32 million more than the Lake Michigan option that we have been suggesting.”
The city has been studying the future water supply for eight years, Duchniak said, and determined the cheapest option would be Lake Michigan.
Due to a drawdown in the city’s groundwater source, the city is faced with declining quality and quantity. The more the city pulls from the deep aquifer, the more the water needs to be treated for contaminants.
The city is ordered to remove radium from its water supply by June 2018, and it is working on a timetable to develop the future water supply. The Common Council is expected to make a decision about the city’s water supply option in late 2010.
If the city chooses the Lake Michigan option, the city has an 18-month window after the projected construction completion date to meet the radium deadline.
Next Scrima will suggest we start storing water in mineshafts.
Of course, none of the planning takes into account how much the neighboring communities will fight Waukesha when, as predicted, the extra straws Waukesha sticks in the ground start to affect the surface bodies of water. Not every community will roll over like the Town of Waukesha did recently. When the wells start to run dry and Pewaukee Lake becomes Pewaukee Puddle, what kind of costs will all those lawsuits bring?
Some issues are just too important for politicians to play games with. It’s nice that Scrima wants to be liked and tells everyone want they want to hear, but it doesn’t mean we have to believe him.
Mineshafts? What, no mention of the garden hose stretching to Owen’s house?
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Hey Wiggy. If you believe the numbers coming out of the water utility and Larry Nelson’s mouth then I have a bridge to sell to you. You had better hurry on the bridge, the Waukesha School Board just called and they are interested in hearing about it.
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James Wigderson Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
BT, One of the great misconceptions of this water debate is that this is all somehow new, or that any of this is the result of Mayor Nelson. This issue has been around for years, including pre-Larry, and it’s just interesting timing that its coming to a head now. The numbers wouldn’t change regardless of who is in office, except on the amount of federal money the city has already received to deal with the water issue. What is absolutely absurd is how many people want so desperately to believe that there is somehow a less expensive plan in the works only if some mayor wills it so. If anything, the water utility is understating the costs of drilling to the west as I expect the litigation from the other communities will be absolutely outrageous.
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JW:
There is one thing that I am confident of and that is that I have no confidence in the cost estimates coming out of the number manglers at the water utility. Why even publish numbers if they carry a (+) or (-) 25%. They should just say these are our “guestimates”-the real numbers will be known when all of the receipts are in.
As far as the incumbent’s involvement in this rush to judgement, it is no coincidence. There are millions of dollars in play here and powerful lobbying forces are throwing money around. Milwaukee wants this water deal as a cash cow to fill holes in its budget, while Nelson and Sewrpac want a move toward regional governance.
We need to be careful here because if we roll over to the Milwaukee offer to buy water then we might not know the real damage done to Waukesha until after Larry wins his award for the water program and is comfortably retired to Arkansas or whatever state his union suggests now is the best place to live off of his publicly funded pension.
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James Wigderson Reply:
March 7th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
HOW IS THIS A RUSH TO JUDGEMENT WHEN THE DAMN ISSUE PRE-DATED MAYOR NELSON? ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY PARANOID? OR JUST INCAPABLE OF READING?
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