About the Study
SEWRPC has prepared and adopted a regional water supply system plan which represents the third, and final, element of the SEWRPC regional water supply management program. The first two elements, comprising the development of basic groundwater inventories and the development of a groundwater simulation model for the Southeastern Wisconsin Region, were completed over the past several years. These elements involved interagency partnership programs with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the water supply utilities serving the Region.
The regional water supply plan, which is documented in SEWRPC Planning Report No. 52, A Regional Water Supply Plan for Southeastern Wisconsin, Volume One, Chapters 1-12, and Volume Two, Appendices, includes the following major components:
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- Development of water supply service areas and of forecast demand for water use.
- Development of recommendations for water conservation efforts to reduce water demand.
- Evaluation of alternative sources of supply, culminating in identification of recommended sources of supply for each service area and in recommendations for development of the basic infrastructure required to deliver that supply.
- Identification of groundwater recharge areas to be protected from incompatible development.
- Specification of new institutional structures found necessary to carry out the plan recommendations.
The regional water supply plan has a design year of 2035. The 2035 regional land use plan serves as a basis for the development of the water supply plan.
Advisory Committee
Advisory committees form a most fundamental type of public involvement, with strong prospects for the planning program contributions to be of a broad and representative nature. The Regional Water Supply Planning Advisory Committee was established by action of the Regional Planning Commission to guide the regional water supply planning program.
The composition of this committee includes broad membership, including knowledgeable and concerned representatives of the constituent counties and water utilities, of related State and Federal agencies, and of the academic, business, agricultural, and environmental communities. The committee is designed to represent the entire study area. Included in its purview is a review of the draft planning report preparation and related technical work at important milestones.
The SEWRPC Environmental Justice Task Force (EJTF) recommended that a socio-economic impact analysis be conducted attendant to the recommendations set forth in the regional water supply plan. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development (CED) completed that analytical activity in 2010. The EJTF considered and accepted the findings of the CED.
Public Informational Meetings and Newsletters
A series of public informational meetings on the preliminary regional water supply plan was held early in 2009. The public comments received from that process were provided to the Advisory Committee for their consideration and were addressed in the plan report as appropriate.
The links below provide access directly to the summary materials and newsletters that have been developed to date setting forth the findings and recommendations of the regional water supply study.