Fox6 News
Published Dec 20, 2017
Waukesha — Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly put pen to paper on Wednesday morning, December 20th — and signed a 40-year contract making it official — the City of Milwaukee will sell water to the City of Waukesha.
The “Great Water Alliance” proposal was introduced to the public in October. It’s a 40-year agreement to pump Lake Michigan water from Milwaukee to Waukesha, freeing Waukesha residents from its current radium-contaminated water supply.
“The City of Waukesha has invested 15 years of hard work to ensure families have access to safe, sustainable drinking water. Reliable drinking water is essential to our city, as we all know. And we have never taken this issue lightly,” said Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly.
“What has happened here is there has been a trust that has been developed. And it’s not something that came instantaneously,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “It came through a lot of hard work, back and forth, some honest conversations, some pointed conversations. But I think they were all necessary to get to where we are today.”
Milwaukee stands to make millions in the deal. Estimates are about $40 million net over the first 20 years. Mayor Barrett has said some of that money will be used to repair some of the lead laterals in the city.