Waukesha To Switch To Lake Michigan Water In September: Report

WAUKESHA, WI — Construction crews are hard at building a pump stationing as the city prepares to transition to Lake Michigan water in September, Spectrum News 1 reported.

The switch to lake water comes after Waukesha inked a special agreement with the City of Milwaukee and also got approval from the Great Lakes Compact, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ontario and Quebec, the outlet reported.

Last month, city officials told Patch that costs for the project — which comes as the city is required to negate the naturally occurring radium contamination of its groundwater supply by fall 2023 — have remained on track.

The project includes new booster pumping stations in Milwaukee and Waukesha, water storage, an elevated storage tank, a return flow pump and 36 miles of pipeline to take in and return Lake Michigan's water. Known as the Great Water Alliance, the project broke ground in 2020 with an estimated $286 million price tag. Dan Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility, said the overall final costs are expected to be slightly less.

The switch to Lake Michigan water means residents will see incremental water bill increases starting by fall 2023 and 2024.

The typical residential customer, based on an average use of around 4,000 gallons of water per month, can expect their bills for supply, waste and return flow to increase in the coming years on this schedule:

• Current rate of $102 per month.
• October 2023 increase to $117 per month (+14.7 percent).
• October 2024 increase to $135 per month (+15.4 percent).
• January 2026 increase to $147 per month (+8.9 percent).
• January 2027 increase to $154 per month (+4.8 percent).