Book: Wisconsin Quietly Approved Lake Michigan Water Diversion

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From the Associated Press — A decision by Wisconsin officials eight years ago to approve a big, new allotment of water from Lake Michigan to Pleasant Prairie is raising questions of transparency. The 2010 decision gave the Kenosha County community on the Illinois border the right to tap millions of gallons of more water a day for years to come. The decision by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was made in the final year of Democratic Governor Jim Doyle’s administration. Journalist Peter Annin highlights details of the decision in his updated book, “The Great Lakes Water Wars.” Under the decision, the water will go to areas of the village outside the Lake Michigan basin. Those areas have struggled with radium and shrinking groundwater supplies. The DNR told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the agency was following Wisconsin law.