A coalition of 120 U.S. and Canadian mayors is calling on decision-makers to reverse a precedent-setting plan that would allow a Wisconsin city to draw water from Lake Michigan. If Waukesha, Wisc., is allowed to pipe water in from the Great Lakes — even though it is outside the watershed — then the trickle of farther-flung water-seeking municipalities will become a deluge, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative said Monday. The mayors have now asked for a hearing from the Great Lakes Compact, a group of eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces that acts as a gatekeeper of water-taking in the watershed. Once the floodgates are open, how far does it continue to flow?”He said his Canadian counterparts from Thunder Bay to Montreal — who use Great Lakes water for drinking, recreation and commerce — share that concern. Waukesha, an 70,000-person exurb of Milwaukee, would return treated water to Lake Michigan via the Root River.

Source: National Post August 23, 2016 13:39 UTC