Leamington's mayor is surprised and "very disappointed" that officials are allowing a Wisconsin town to divert water outside the Great Lakes compact.
Governors of the eight Great Lakes States have unanimously voted to allow the City of Waukesha to get water directly from the Great Lakes Basin and pump it back into the Great Lakes. The town has been taking water from an aquifer connected to the Lake Michigan Basin and sending it to the Mississippi River Basin. But that aquifer contains high levels of naturally occurring radium.
Leamington Mayor John Paterson is a member of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. He along with 122 other mayors recently stated their opposition to the diversion. He took to Twitter following the governors' vote.
@GLSLcities This signals the end of the Great Lakes as we know them. The door has now been opened by irresponsible US government officials.
— Mayor John Paterson (@LeamingtonGuy) June 21, 2016
Paterson says higher levels of government should be concerned about the approval as well.
"They should be voicing an opinion right now. That compact was drawn between the eight states and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec," says Paterson. "I haven't heard anything from our provincial government on this."
Paterson adds the Great Lakes Initiative is worried the move will set a dangerous precedent for other cities with water shortages.
"Once you turn on the tap for somebody outside the compact region, how do you argue not doing it for other cities and states? At what point can we say 'no more, because the lake levels are dropping," Paterson explains.
Paterson is unsure what next steps, if any, can be taken against the decision. He says the approval could already be a "done deal."
