Notification of a Straddling Community Diversion Application

Updated February 23, 2022

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced its approval for the Village of Somers to divert an annual average of 1.2 million gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River Basin. According to Wisconsin’s approval, the water diverted from Lake Michigan will be used by the Village of Somers solely for public water supply purposes and treated water will be returned to Lake Michigan via the Kenosha Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Further information on the approval can be found at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WaterUse/Somers.html

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March 4, 2021

The following notice has been provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) on behalf of the Originating Party to the other Parties of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council (Compact Council).  Such notice is posted here pursuant to Section 200.3.2 of the Compact Council Guidance:

This message serves as notification under the Compact Council Procedures and the Regional Body Procedures section 200.3.2 that the Village of Somers submitted a diversion application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR).  This application is a straddling community diversion application. WDNR’s preliminary review indicates that the application is not subject to the exception standard and will not require regional review. The application is available for public review at the WDNR website or by visiting http://dnr.wisconsin.gov and using the keyword search “Somers”. Additional notification will be provided to the Regional Body and Compact Council as required by the Compact Council and Regional Body Procedures.

The Village of Somers is in Southeast Wisconsin, in Kenosha County. The Village has indicated that there are still some materials that the Village needs to submit to the department for a complete application. WDNR plans to begin review of the application and anticipates additional information requests to the Village as is typical of these applications. Any additional information and correspondence will be posted to the WDNR website.

From a preliminary review of the application, we can tell you the following:

• The application is a straddling community application for a diversion of Lake Michigan water.
• The volume of the diversion request is for an annual average of 1.2 million gallons per day.
• The Village plans to purchase water to divert from the City of Kenosha and return wastewater to the Kenosha Wastewater treatment plant.
• The City of Kenosha has capacity within their existing withdrawal baseline, therefore the proposed diversion would not result in a new or increased withdrawal, and WDNR does not expect that the exception standard will need to be met.
• The application includes a consumptive use associated with the diversion of 0.12 MGD, less than the 5 MGD consumptive use threshold that requires regional review.

WDNR has not identified aspects of this application that are potentially precedent setting or regionally significant and provides this assessment to meet the requirements of Council and Regional Body Procedures section 200.3.2.b.