WAUKESHA, Wis. — After a decades-long push, residents in the City of Waukesha will have Lake Michigan water coming out of their faucets.
Leaders are using Lake Michigan water after the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deemed their wells contaminated with radium.
Changing all of this next week comes with a $287 million price tag, that will be paid by ratepayers.
With 50 million gallons of new water expected to be pumped into the system during the switch next week, Mayor Shawn Reilly says the pressure could stir up sediment that may be sitting in your pipes and make the water red in color.
He warns you might want to avoid doing the laundry for a short time next week, because it could change the color of your clothes, “If your clothes have red on them don’t dry them wash them again.”
The water should return to normal quickly.
But Dan Duchniak, Waukesha Water Utility General Manager, says residents may also notice a strong chlorine smell and taste. He says they are using a new formula to clean the water, with chlorine and ammonia, “Because if you’re on kidney dialysis, or you have fish tanks or reptiles, you have to be aware and know the treatment for chloramines is different for what it is [compared to] chlorine. They’re both safe, they are both good for public consumption.”
Duchniak and Reilly showed us around the new water utility facility, with a new building, water tower, and reservoirs.
It took the approval from eight different states and two Canadian provinces for this to happen. You cannot tap into the water if you do not live within the Great Lakes Water Basin. Waukesha sat less than two miles outside the line.
The mayor said, “I think most of them when it was all said and done were okay with it because 100 percent of the water was being returned to the Great Lakes, and where the water could be going to was limited. It wasn’t more than just the city of Waukesha.”
The City of Waukesha has just over 71,000 residents.
The 37-mile-long pipeline from Milwaukee to Waukesha is now finished. As the mayor said, after the water is used from their new reservoirs and treated, it is sent back to Lake Michigan via the Root River.
An official ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for Thursday.
