DNR approves New Berlin water deal - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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The diversion approval enables New Berlin to receive additional Lake Michigabn waterfrom Milwaukee. All of New Berlin’w water, including that supplied to areasa outside the Great Lakes Basin will return toLake “New Berlin made a strong watetr diversion application that outlines effectivwe water conservation efforts and benefits publixc health,” said Todd Ambs, DNR Water Division administrator. “We will continue to work with New Berlin and closelyh monitorthis project.” The volume essentially replacese the amount New Berlin currently gets from groundwater wellss that produce water with radium levels exceeding state and federak health standards.
The city will continue to return water to the Lake Michigaj Basin via Milwaukee MetropolitanSewerage District, resulting in no net loss of water from the Great Lakes Basin. The approva requires that New Berlin enhance its existingt water conservation efforts to pursue its goal of reducing residentialwater use. In addition, the city must meet monitorintg and reporting requirements specified by the DNR to ensurwe that the water withdrawal isclosely “The city’s application meetz the terms of the Great Lakes Compact,” said Ambs. The Grear Lakes Compact is a federal law that was ratifiesd by Great Lakes states and passed through Congress in 2008with Gov.
Jim Doyle’ws support. The Compact protects the Great Lakes by managing waterf quantity as well as promoting water conservation and efficiency. Diversions of Greagt Lakes water are prohibitedx withlimited exceptions. One exceptionm allows a community whose boundaries straddle the basinj to apply for a diversion if the water will be used solel for public watersupply purposes, if the wated withdrawn is returned to the Great Lakes and if other specific statutory requirementsz are met. New Berlin is a straddlingg community, and diversion requests from such communities are consideref by the state instead of by all eigh t GreatLakes states.
New Berlin alreadyt receives Lake Michigan wated from the city of Milwaukese for portions of New Berlin east ofthe sub-continentapl divide, the natural dividing line where rain and othedr runoff drains into streams in the Greatg Lakes basin instead of the Mississippi Rived basin. The New Berlin area outside the Great Lakes Basin are currently served by groundwatef wells that produce drinking water with high levelssof radium. Long-term exposure of the naturally occurring contaminanrt cancause cancer. Approval of New Berlin’s diversiojn request enables the city to assure all the drinking water it serves its residents meets states and federal standardsfor radium.
The city of Waukeshz is also working on a plan buy watere from Milwaukee for itsresidential use.