Wisconsin state Senator Neal Kedzie remembers that a similar impasse occurred in the Badger State four years ago. He says that what broke the gridlock in Wisconsin was a highly unusual alliance of farmers and environmentalists, traditionally dogged adversaries who formed to advance a smarter water withdrawal policy in Wisconsin.
“[That alliance] was enough to move me," said the rough-riding Republican from Elkhorn, who chairs Wisconsin’s Natural Resources and Transportation Committee. “It showed us that there was a willingness between diverse interests to have a serious dialogue on this issue.”
A Potent Partnership “Our message was simple,” recalled Todd Ambs, then executive director of the River Alliance, now head of the state Department of Natural Resources’ Water Division. “This is Wisconsin. It’s not Arizona, or New Mexico, or California. We are blessed with plenty of water. We don’t have to pit one water user against another. But we do have to figure out a strategy for sustaining this resource for future generations before the crisis hits.” "Figuring out how all these competing water sources can coexist is a top priority for our economy, our environment, and our quality of life.”
In Wisconsin, that anti-regulatory argument began unraveling in 2000, when the River Alliance of Wisconsin joined the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association to kick off the search for a solution to the state’s sharply declining groundwater levels. The partnership came partly in response to growing awareness that major economic centers like Green Bay, growing suburbs such as Waukesha, and inland communities like Madison pump groundwater faster than nature can replenish it.