Mayors Water Council

Newsletter of the Mayors Water Council of The United States Conference of Mayors

Winter 2008

Water Supply Planning

ship with Aqua Illinois and Toll Brothers (homebuilders) to dig

and Watershed

two deep wells and provide a water treatment plant at no cost

to the taxpayers. They now have a 1.8 million gallon per day

Management Discussed

capacity with future capacity of 3.5 million gallons per day

which allows for community growth. They are also working to

by Mayors

promote conservation by creating a multi-tiered rate structure.

According to Mayor Nelson, the city of Waukesha needs a

new water supply. After years of overpumping in southeastern

By Judy Sheahan

Wisconsin by many communities, there is a water quantity and

Providing water supplies and protecting the watershed were

quality problems. Waukesha is considering two options for a

topics discussed at the Mayors Water Council Meeting in San

new water supply ­ going east to Lake Michigan or going west

Francisco by Mayors Jennifer Hosterman of Pleasanton (CA),

and withdrawing groundwater and discharging it to rivers that

Keith Hunt of Hawthorne Woods (IL), Larry Nelson of Wauke-

lead to the Mississippi River. To complicate matters even further

sha (WI) and Susan Hutson with the U.S. Geological Survey.

is the fact that Waukesha is outside the Lake Michigan sur-

Pleasanton is located 40 miles from San Francisco with a

face water divide and therefore utilizing Lake Michigan water

population around 70,000. However, it abuts four other cities

raises legal and political questions under the Water Resources

that total over 250,000. Their water supply comes from both

Development Act (WRDA). Due to these and other constitu-

an underground aquifer and a delta. Hosterman outlined how

tional concerns, the Great Lakes Governors have agreed on a

the communities have been dealing with decaying infrastructure

Great Lakes Compact to replace WRDA. That agreement must

including breaking pipelines, increasing water hook up rates,

be ratified by the Legislatures of all eight Great Lake states and

takings, endangered species, and water supply issues. Hoster-

by Congress to become law. Mayor Nelson is looking for the

man said, "We are ok with water storage and supply through

Conference of Mayors' support for the Great Lakes Compact.

the summer of '08 but with a drought or climate change, who

Hutson outlined how people today are using less water per

knows." She also discussed work she has done as part of the

capita than in the 70s. In fact, water consumption per person

Local Government Commission which created the "Ahwahnee

is similar to what was used in 1955. However, since the popu-

Water Principles" - a blueprint for sustainable land-use practices

lation has doubled, the total withdrawal of water has tripled.

that can improve the reliability and quality of water resources. If

Other experts warned that with climate change impacts ­ severe

followed, they can minimize the risk and impacts of stormwater

storms, drought, and rising sea levels - water supply issues could

runoff, ground and surface water contamination, and flooding.

become a problem for more and more communities in the future.

Mayor Hunt of Hawthorne Woods, a suburb of Chicago

A Conference of Mayors' Water Council Survey determined that

with 6,000 residents, explained how they had a well and sep-

35 percent of city respondents did not know where there drink-

tic system until 2003. However, with growth at 10-15 percent

ing water supplies would come from in 20 years.

per year, they were looking to make the community more eco-

For more information about water issues, please check out

nomically sustainable. They utilized a public-private partner-

usmayors.org/watercouncil.

Attention--NGWA Notice

tent on drought and ground water. Initially, topics will

range from conservation, managing perpetual drought,

Municipalities facing drought soon can tap new infor-

and aquifer storage and recovery to long-range water

mation useful in planning for or managing water systems.

supply planning, conjunctive use of ground water and sur-

In mid-January, the National Ground Water Association

face water, and ground water in an urban environment.

(NGWA) will add a new "Drought" page to its Web site

For more information, contact Cliff Treyens, NGWA public

(www.ngwa.org) under the section, "Public/Media." This

awareness director, at ctreyens@ngwa.org or 614-898-

page will provide links to articles, papers and other con-

7791, ext. 554.

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