Water Use_Content Page_City of Racine water diversion application

City of Racine Diversion

Overview

Overview

  • The DNR approved the city of Racine’s diversion application to divert up to 7 million gallons per day. The approval allows the city of Racine to divert water to the portion of the village of Mount Pleasant that is in the Mississippi River Basin
  • Public water supply customers in the village of Mount Pleasant are customers of the Racine public water utility. The village of Mount Pleasant does not operate a public water utility.
  • The diversion area includes part of the area identified by Racine County as the future site of the Foxconn facility.
  • The diverted water will be returned to the Great Lakes Basin via the Racine Wastewater Treatment Plant.
  • The approval was granted under the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (Compact).
    • The Compact banned diversions of Great Lakes water with a few exceptions.
    • One exception to the Compact’s ban on diversions allows a “straddling community”, such as the village of Mount Pleasant, to received a diversion of Great Lakes water if the Compact criteria are met.

Approval documents

Approval documents

The DNR approved the City of Racine’s diversion application on April 25, 2018.

Annual report

Annual report

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Application materials

Application information

Wisconsin law, s. 281.346 (4)(b), Wis. Stats., requires that an applicant for a diversion be a public water supply system that would divert the water. The city of Racine provides water to all or parts of the following Wisconsin communities: the city of Racine and the villages of Sturtevant, Mount Pleasant, Elmwood Park, North Bay, Wind Point and Caledonia within the Great Lakes basin. The city's wastewater treatment plant discharges to Lake Michigan.

The city of Racine is the appropriate applicant to apply for a straddling community diversion application on behalf of the village of Mount Pleasant because the Racine Water Utility is the public water supply system that would divert the water. The straddling community, the village of Mount Pleasant, does not own and operate a public water supply system and thus is not eligible to apply for a straddling community diversion approval.

Application and supplemental information requested during the review process are provided below.

Public comments and DNR response

The department held a six-week comment period on the application and received approximately 830 public comments. The department summarized and responded to comments.

Public Hearing Public Comment Period
The department held a public hearing on March 7, 2018, in Sturtevant. Information and recordings from the hearing are available below. The department accepted public comments on the Racine diversion application until March 21, 2018. The public comment period is now closed.

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Diversion approval challenge

On May 25, 2018, a group of petitioners challenged the DNR's approval of the city of Racine's application by submitting a petition for a contested case hearing. On June 13, 2018, the DNR granted the petitioner's request for a hearing. On June 7, 2019, a Wisconsin Administrative Law Judge upheld the DNR's approval of the city of Racine's diversion.

Correspondence

Date Title
April 24, 2018 Letter from Michigan OGL to DNR [PDF]
May 1, 2018 Letter from Pennsylvania DEP to DNR [PDF]
May 16, 2018 Letter to Regional Body from DNR [PDF]
May 24, 2018 Letter from Pennsylvania DEP to DNR [PDF]