Lapham Peak Tower, the view of the lakes.

by pixn8or,

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

From the top of the lookout tower in Wisconsin's vibrantly green Kettle Moraine, where glaciers melted and created rolling, damp-smelling hills, my brother and I counted three lakes - Nagawicka, Pewaukee and Okauchee. On a clearer day, we'd have been able to see Lake Michigan, 23 miles away.
      Upper and Lower Nemahbin lakes were hidden by the lush green tree line, as were Pine and Oconomowoc lakes. Which doesn't even start to count the dozens of smaller lakes like Middle Genesee and Golden. There are so many lakes within 10 miles of the 1,255-foot lookout tower at Lapham Peak that people ran out of fancy names and just called one ‘Pretty Lake' and named others after Peter and Lulu - if they bothered to name the little ones.
     There is water everywhere. Spring-fed, unsalinated water that people use to sail and swim and canoe and ice-fish, as well as drink.
      But my dreams of working out a solar power for water trade with Wisconsin were dashed. Even with all its water - Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 Lakes but I swear America's Dairyland has 7,200 of its own - Wisconsin is regulating, conserving and jockeying with its neighboring states over water use.
      The city of New Berlin, southwest of Milwaukee, just got permission to use Lake Michigan water - they'd relied on well water - under the year-old Great Lakes Compact after a three-year ‘process'.
Part of their agreement is to seriously conserve, reducing their use by 10 percent.
      What's this got to do with San Diego?
      A couple things. First, it's pretty weird that an area with 50 lakes in 100 miles, including a really big one, has the same conservation goals as a city built in the coastal desert. The average annual snowfall in New Berlin is 35 inches - that's frozen water sitting on the lawn and the roof. They get 32.5 inches of rain a year. And they're worried enough about water that they've committed to conserving at the same rate we are.
      Second, for all that water around them, they aren't using much to begin with. But they're about to see a big increase in water bills too, more than 20 percent above what the average home pays - $78 for three months, assuming they use the typical 17,000 gallons.
http://www.newberlin.org/government/departments/utilities/water-utility.aspx
      Now, if my math is right, that means homes in New Berlin use about 23 of our indecipherable HCFs in three months, or just less than 8 HCF a month. That's just more than half of the 14 HCF the city Water Department says a typical San Diego house uses a month.
     I'd be willing to bet a brick of Muenster cheese that they don't dump nearly as much water on the ground as we do. Especially during the four or five months when it isn't already covered with frozen water.
      Third, it means my secret plans for either nicing the water out of them by trading solar-generated electricity - one very big pipe from here to there - or invading and just taking it won't work out. They're keeping track and conserving even while water falls on their heads.
      And most importantly, it means everyone everywhere is worried about the water supply and how sucking it up like cokeheads on a binge destroys the water's source. Looking elsewhere for our water supply will become increasingly futile. Since the Great Lakes Compact was set up to protect what we think of as a massive water pit, it also suggests that a similar group to keep us from stupidly draining the ocean can't be far behind.
      Now, it is kind of funny that New Berlin's idea of conservation tactics include replacing toilets and stopping drips - stuff we've fully worked and worked well enough that Southern California is using the same amount of water we did in 1990, though we've added four million more people to get to a population of 19 million.
      There's a compliment, a challenge and a conundrum here: New Berlin's city website links to California (H2Ouse.org) for more ideas in a place where they use half the water, even with their 7,200 lakes all around.
http://www.newberlin.org/government/departments/utilities/water-conservation-ideas.aspx