Rain, snow, sleet and hail — citizens of Milwaukee are all too familiar with the gift of living on a Great Lake. It puts out fires, quenches your thirst, feeds your plants and christens your babies.

But Milwaukee’s proximity to Lake Michigan brings a new element of utility to what we so take for granted: tap water.

The Milwaukee Water Works provides drinking water to Milwaukee as well as 15 communities in the area, plus another 10 cities that operate their own water utilities and distribution.

Over the past few years, Milwaukee businesses have tried to bring the city to the forefront nationally as a central hub for water technology.

Proponents of the idea have made strides in earning recognition, and education on the matter has improved, but some disagreement has shown strong evidence to the contrary.

Milwaukee’s true claim to fame may be its water quality, and water-related businesses are riding the wave of fresh, abundant Lake Michigan water.

Milwaukee water is clean, pure and a magnet for attention.

Clean tap, clean water
Whether the city is a leader in water technology, there is no denying the water quality is top-notch.

A common misconception regarding drinking water is that water from the faucet isn’t “clean.”

This is no longer true.

After the largest waterborne disease outbreak in U.S. history took place in Milwaukee in 1993, the Water Works has made sure to go above and beyond basic water treatment. More than 100 people died after a parasite called cryptosporidium infected one of two water treatment plants in the city.

“The response to that was for the City of Milwaukee to pledge that nothing like that would ever happen again,” said Rosalind Rouse, water marketing specialist for the Milwaukee Water Works. “We have a good grip on what’s in the drinking water and what’s in the lake water.”

Today, Milwaukee is recognized worldwide for its top-notch and crystal clear water quality.

“In the Milwaukee area, because we have such clean drinking water, home water filters aren’t really necessary,” Rouse said.

Before it makes its way out of the faucet, Milwaukee drinking water goes through a 9-step filtration process and is tested for more than 500 contaminants. The Environmental Protection Agency only requires testing for 90.

“Many of these things don’t even have laws about them yet,” Rouse said. For example, “We find nicotine in Lake Michigan water … but our water quality monitoring is good enough to screen out nicotine.”

Rouse added that water-bottling facilities aren’t required to test for as many possible pollutants as Water Works tests for.

Also, home water filters can make water less clean if the filter isn’t changed frequently. Natural particles can build up on filters and make water hard, and if water sits too long it can attract bacteria and mold.

“We put a lot of trust in bottled and canned products,” Rouse said. “If it’s sealed, it must be pure. … But drinking water utilities have much stronger health regulations than the people who bottle water.”

Rouse said part of the city’s reputation for water quality results from its two first-rate water treatment entities — the Water Works and the Metropolitan Sewerage District.

“We’re at both ends of the pipe, we like to say,” Rouse said.

The MWW asserts that no lead has been detected in public drinking water since 1992. Problems only occur in older homes where pipes are made of lead or copper with lead-based solder. Water is a natural solvent (think of how easily sugar and Kool-Aid dissolve), so lead can make its way into the water.

Rouse said the Water Works adds corrosion control to drinking water, which coats pipes to prevent lead from leeching into the water.

“Never drink or cook from the hot water tap,” Rouse said. “Hot water has a higher dissolving rate, and there’s a likelihood there could be elevated levels of lead in the water.”

Academic strides
Milwaukee is one of 13 cities worldwide and one of two in the United States (along with San Francisco) to be named part of the United Nations Global Compact Program. In April 2009, the U.N. recognized Milwaukee as a water technology hub and Global Compact City.

This came after University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee urban planning professor Sammis White produced a “Water Summit White Paper” in 2008 for the Milwaukee 7’s second annual summit. White’s paper said there were 120 water-related firms working in Milwaukee with about 20,000 employees.

While the hype is based on the number of water-related businesses in the area, such as Badger Meter and A.O. Smith, UW-Milwaukee is adding to the distinction in a different way, with its School of Freshwater Sciences (starting this fall), part of the Great Lakes WATER Institute research center, located directly on Lake Michigan.

“When we talk about water, there are two main facets we consider,” said Harvey Bootsma, an associate scientist with the Great Lakes WATER Institute. “One is the use of water in industrial and business applications and the other is the management of water and aquatic resources, which is kind of the environmental side. The new school will hopefully address both of those.”

Milwaukee’s location on Lake Michigan and inclusion of the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic Rivers makes the city an obvious and useful location for research and development of water technology.

“(Milwaukee as a water hub) comes from the city’s long history of developing and marketing technology related to water,” Bootsma said. “Valves, meters, water treatment systems.”

Back & forth
While Milwaukee seeks to prove its value as a water technology Mecca, or a self-dubbed “Silicon Valley of water technology,” there is some dissent.

“It’s been a little bit of a back and forth because the business community obviously has a different agenda than the academic community,” said Rebecca Klaper, the Shaw associate scientist at the GLWI. “(Milwaukee is) very much a hub of research and what’s going on in the lakes and how we can sustain the lakes.”

Marc Levine, senior fellow and founding director of UWM’s Center for Economic Development, fears that what he calls an industry trade group is linking its economic development agenda to the School of Freshwater Sciences.

“I don’t want Rich Meeusen (chairman, president and CEO) of Badger Meter standing over the shoulders of scientists telling them what would be in the best interest of economic development,” Levine said.

He said scientists should be doing what they do best — researching to find groundbreaking results — on their own terms.

The strength of White’s argument was in the high employment and prospects of attracting more businesses to Milwaukee. Levine countered with a report questioning the paper.

According to Milwaukee Magazine, Levine found close to 7,500 water-related jobs in Milwaukee, compared to White’s estimated 20,000 jobs.

Citing research from a Goldman Sachs report, Levine ranked Milwaukee only seventh nationally among the top 40 global water companies generating the highest revenues, 19th among major U.S. cities in water technology patents issued, and 21st in employment of water hydrologists.

“Of the 50 largest businesses in Milwaukee, none of them are water-related,” Levine said. “This very narrow economic group has exaggerated its economic importance in the Milwaukee economy.

“I think we need to look at the broad range of possibilities for economic development,” Levine said. “Rather than thinking of this one sector of the economy as the one to focus on.”

Milwaukee is certainly a prime location for water-related research and development, but Levine is sure that the Silicon Valley of water technology is definitely not in Milwaukee.

“Every community has water needs. Every community has companies working in water,” Levine said. “It’s like saying some place is the Silicon Valley of health care.”