There's a battle brewing over a controversial Wisconsin proposal to siphon water from Lake Michigan. The Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha wants to divert 38 million litres of water a day by pipeline for its own consumption, and then pump the same amount of treated wastewater back into a river that drains into the lake. Mayors of the eight Great Lakes States and St Lawrence Initiative, representing 121 Canadian and U.S. municipalities, are against the proposal. Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley has written to Premier Kathleen Wynne about it. "This has caused a great deal of alarm with Great Lakes mayors, up and down the Great Lakes, because it could have a very negative impact and be a precedent," he says. The mayors are worried about the impact on water levels and water quality. Eight U.S.Great Lakes governors have to approve the plan because Waukesha is located outside the great lakes basin and is not eligible to take water out of the system without permission.
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