Hard Water: Politics and Water Supply in Milwaukee, 1870-1995

This work examines formation, growth, and change in the Water Department of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1870-1995. It combines areas of history, technology, politics, and policy-making in an effort to understand how municipal decision-making processes determine technological determinations throughout the history of Water Works. It also discusses how poor communication between technical specialists and policy makers resulted in delays in decision-making as well as in poor construction choices. The turbulent history covers the struggle to supply a filtration plant, which was deeply rooted in differences between political parties; accommodation of suburban demands for services of municipal supply; and the cryptosporidium crisis of 1993, along with the history, maps, tables, and charts are also contained within.