Waukesha unveils its request for water

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Calling the city’s search for a radium-free water supply “a critical public health issue,” Mayor Larry Nelson on Thursday said a proposed diversion of Great Lakes water to the city was the only safe, reliable and environmentally sustainable option. Simply switching from deep sandstone wells tainted with radium and salt to shallow wells for all of the city’s needs is not sustainable because the pumping would reduce the volume of groundwater feeding wetlands, streams and lakes and would harm those resources, says a draft application for Lake Michigan water that was released Thursday. More

Aging sewage systems breed record bacteria in our waters

(MI) Detroit Free Press – Metro Detroit’s outdated sewage systems regularly violate the law by dumping raw and partially treated human waste into rivers, streams and lakes that provide recreation and drinking water to more than 3 million people, a Free Press analysis of state records found. In the last two years, sewer systems in more than three dozen communities dumped a combined 80 billion gallons of raw and partially treated human waste into waterways. More

10 Lake County suburbs look to tap Lake Michigan water

(IL) Chicago Tribune – In what could be the state’s largest collective gulp of Lake Michigan water in nearly two decades, 10 suburbs are seeking approval to tap the vast but closely guarded natural resource. With groundwater supplies drying up and vulnerable to contamination, the Lake County communities that now rely on wells are casting envious eyes on that tantalizingly close supply — the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the world. They propose spending $250 million to lay about 57 miles of pipe and take other steps that would bring Lake Michigan water to the western part of Lake County. More

Global ‘clean water’ founder to speak

(MI) Holland Sentinel – It’s been almost five years since Robert McDonald, a retired engineer, set out to develop a cheap, effective water filtration and disinfection system. The technology had to be simple, require no power, have no moving parts and be made with available local materials by local people all over the world. McDonald, president and co-director of Aqua Clara International, a Holland nonprofit organization, will speak at the first event in the Michigan State University Bioeconomy Institute’s 2010 speaker series, Experts Exchange: Opportunities in Bio-Innovation, 4 p.m. Wednesday at the MSU Bioeconomy Institute, 242 Howard Ave. More

Crestwood residents still waiting for report on town’s cancer rates

(IL) Chicago Tribune – Six months after state health officials declared their investigation of cancer rates in south suburban Crestwood was almost complete, they have yet to release the results. The Illinois Department of Public Health, which earlier had failed to notify Crestwood residents their municipal water supply was contaminated with toxic chemicals, declined to answer questions about the cancer study. The agency also has rejected the Tribune’s requests for cancer data filed under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. More

Toxic chemicals in water wells have Grundy County residents on edge

(IL) Chicago Tribune – Toxic chemicals have crept into the drinking water in a corner of rural Grundy County, stoking fears and raising suspicions about who is to blame. Tests by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on at least five private wells in a neighborhood that abuts a large landfill near Morris, an hour’s drive from Chicago, have shown dangerously high levels of arsenic, selenium, lead, thallium, antimony and other potentially harmful chemicals. More

Editorial: Idea for 10-cent water bottle tax is all wet

(MI) The Detroit News – Lt. Gov. John Cherry has launched a new tax trial balloon. Cherry, for now the top Democratic contender to succeed Jennifer Granholm as governor, wants to tax water bottlers in Michigan to fund higher education scholarships. Creating this new tax is a bad idea in a state desperate for new jobs. No matter how well-intentioned their purpose, tax increases on job providers hurt employment. More

Full steam ahead

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – A Milwaukee Common Council committee took a welcome step forward this week when it recommended that the city declare an interest in selling Lake Michigan water to the city of Waukesha. That doesn’t mean the city will sell the water, but – if the full council follows suit Dec. 22 – declaring its interest in a letter to Waukesha allows discussion and the process to move ahead, and that is a good thing. The letter is a necessary part of Waukesha’s application for lake water under the Great Lakes compact, which would require, among other things, the approval of the eight Great Lakes states governors. There is still a long road ahead for Waukesha and many details to be worked out.

Waukesha taking first step to solve radium problem in wells

(WI) Pierce County Herald – Waukesha took one small step yesterday toward getting rid of its radium-contaminated water wells. A committee in nearby Milwaukee recommended that the city declare an interest in selling water to Waukesha under the terms of the new Great Lakes water protection agreement.  

Waukesha is just outside Lake Michigan’s natural basin — and under the new compact, it might eventually get approval from all eight Great Lakes governors to use Lake Michigan’s water. As part of the process, Waukesha is seeking bids from communities which already use the lake’s water — and the city would tap into them. More