Water not flowing, but talk does Manty provides third water option; Ashwaubenon, GB meet Friday By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle As a Sept. 30 deadline looms for area communities to hand in water radium compliance plans, the search for a solution continued on several fronts Wednesday. The suburban Central Brown County Water Authority discussed a possible line from Manitowoc while Ashwaubenon got ready for a Friday public information meeting with the Green Bay Water Commission. The authority recently discussed with Manitowoc the possible purchase of water from that lakeshore community. Manitowoc seems favorable to a deal because economic problems there have cut back water use, authority adviser Michael Parmentier said. The authority's technical committee, looking at a Manitowoc option, said there are several good points about the possibility of buying Manitowoc water. Manitowoc is using the same type of membrane filtration the authority plans to use. Membrane filtration plants can be expanded more easily than the sand filtration used by Green Bay. Manitowoc uses a mix of Lake Michigan water and well water, and has available capacity. Because Manitowoc does not pay for a long pipeline, its water rates are lower. Manitowoc also has old facilities that could be remodeled. And there's another possibility: The water being piped to the suburbs would be treated water, opening the possibility of sales to communities along the pipe's route, including Denmark, Cooperstown and Kellnersville. The pipeline would, however, be about four miles longer than an independent pipeline serving the suburbs. The move gives the authority a third option other than its own pipeline or accepting a deal from Green Bay to buy excess capacity in the city's pipeline, which is having its capacity boosted. The Green Bay deal would sell water at 25 percent over bulk rate to Allouez, Ashwaubenon, Bellevue and Howard, and all eight suburbs in the authority would have to use well water and pay for its treatment to make it radium-free. The authority has already voted not to accept the Green Bay plan, saying it is not a "long-term regional solution," but Ashwaubenon has shown interest. The village is hosting a public meeting at 2:30 p.m. Friday with the Green Bay Water Commission and has invited the other authority members to attend. However, some will be in Manitowoc, getting more details of that city's ability to sell water. Parmentier said that because the authority has shot down the Green Bay sales proposal, "I don't know what there is to talk about" at the Ashwaubenon meeting. But Ashwaubenon Village President Norbert DeCleene said he sees the deal as the first part of a two-part long-range solution, taking care of immediate needs for 20 years and setting the groundwork for future deals. Joan Mills, a former Brown County Board member from Hobart, spoke at the authority's meeting on Wednesday and said she did not understand why the authority was against the Green Bay deal. "To talk about a pipeline to Manitowoc seems so crazy," she said. "I don't think the public will understand why you're not accepting the offer from Green Bay that seems logical." Authority vice president Joe Linssens of Ledgeview said the concern of the authority was that only four communities would receive water, and not enough to meet peak needs, forcing all eight to continue to use well water and have to treat it.