Waukesha Water Utility: Waukesha officials to host another public meeting to discuss Great Lakes water application

For more information, contact

Dan Duchniak, General Manager

Waukesha Water Utility

262.521.5272, ext. 518

Special meeting of the Waukesha Water Utility to be held at the request of the Common Council

At the request of the Waukesha Common Council, the Waukesha Water Utility will hold a public meeting to answer citizen questions related to the city’s application for a Great Lakes water supply. The meeting will be held at the Waukesha City Hall, 201 Delafield Street, at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 18.

The meeting begins with an open house between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., where the public can interact with water experts and engineers to ask specific questions regarding to Waukesha’s water supply problems and the application. At 6:30 p.m., there will be a formal meeting at which an expert panel will be available to answer questions from Common Council members, Waukesha residents, district ratepayers and the general public. Common Council President Paul Ybarra has requested that members of the Common Council gather questions that have been most commonly asked by constituents so that they may be answered publicly. It is expected that Mayor Jeff Scrima and a majority of Common Council members will be present.

“ It was clear at the meeting where the Common Council voted 14 to 1 in favor of our formal application to the DNR that the alders were interested in continuing their open dialogue with the public,” said Dan Duchniak, General Manager of the Waukesha Water Utility and a member of the expert panel. “We are more than happy to continue to help educate the public and to answer any questions regarding this very important public health issue that is facing our community.” Other members of the panel will include Nancy Quirk of the Waukesha Water Utility, as well as Tony Myers, Linda Mohr and Mark Mittag of CH2M Hill. Presiding over the meeting will be Dan Warren, chairman of the utility commission who was recently reappointed to a new three-year term on the commission.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is currently reviewing Waukesha’s application for a Great Lakes water diversion after years of study, research and public discussion of the issues both within Waukesha and throughout the Great Lakes states. Waukesha officials have already begun the process of sharing information with the DNR in what both sides expect to be a very open exchange of data and documentation. In addition to conducting a thorough independent review of the application, the DNR will hold meetings to hear from members of the public.

“Even though our votes have been counted and the application is moving forward, we continue to have a responsibility to our constituents to help them better understand the application and inform them on the process that will follow,” said Ybarra. “Based on the wisdom of several members of the Common Council, we have organized yet another public meeting where residents’ and business owners’ questions can be heard.”