I haven't spent much time in Wisconsin...worked in the Milwaukee area some years ago. What I know about Wisconsin politics has been learned right here at DKos. I read with interest Walker's war on unions and education. I followed along during voting to recall Walker and the solid red support he apparently enjoys in the Waukesha area. Therefore, I read with interest an article in the NY Times about Waukesha's lack of water resources and their request to tap into the Great Lakes via Lake Michigan.
WAUKESHA, Wis. — This city, once famous for its bubbling natural springs, sits about 17 miles from the shore of Lake Michigan. So when the state and federal authorities began demanding that the city address a growing contamination problem in its aquifer, the answer seemed simple: Get water from the big lake.Apparently, as people left the Milwaukee and/or the surrounding area for the suburbs they assumed there would be enough ground water to go around. Apparently drill, drill, drill isn't working well for Waukesha. The mayor apparently is perplexed why people wouldn't support pulling water from Lake Michigan...
“We cannot continue pulling from this aquifer,” Mayor Shawn Reilly said. “I don’t see any alternative that has less environmental impacts. It’s perplexing to me that environmental groups would be opposed.”Here's the thing, in order to pull Lake Michigan water, any state bordering any of the Great Lakes, and apparently Canadian provinces, have to unanimously agree to the water removal if the location is a certain distance from the lake watershed. And Waukesha is too far away from the Lake to send the water their way without this approval. Even fellow R Gov Snyder of Michigan doesn't seem to be too supportive.
“To some degree, it’s like, where do you draw the line?” Mr. Snyder said. “It shouldn’t be done just as an ad hoc thing or a political thing. It should be based on sound science and good economics and what’s best for the long term. The Great Lakes are one of the world’s most precious assets.”Perhaps the good people of Waukesha need to reconsider their planning for new development, or how to reduce water consumption?
I suggest reading the Comments on the Times website. I wasn't sure if people would be aware of the connection between Walker, Waukesha and their conservative tendencies to be against government spending. I thought comments that the relatively water rich states bordering the Lakes, the "rust belt", could prosper in the future when water becomes increasingly scarce (so long Arizona, hello Cleveland).
Will be interesting to see how this plays out. But I enjoyed a bit of that schadenfreude as I read the article. Or as those of us who grew up in the NY area years ago would say, "chinky chose, always shows".