Your Voice is Needed on Great Lakes
Water Supply Protections
By Molly Flanagan,Water Program Associate, Ohio Environmental Council
The Great Lakes are one of the
natural wonders of the world
containing nearly 20 percent of
the earth’s fresh surface water
and supplying drinking water to
more than 40 million people who
live within its watersheds. It is the
only freshwater system of its kind
in size and ecological diversity and
is essential to humans and
wildlife alike; providing homes,
food, recreation, and economic
sustainability.
Despite their vastness, the Great
Lakes are vulnerable to degradation and depletion. The Great Lakes are actually a
balanced system. Rainwater and snowmelt replenish only about one percent of the
lakes, rivers, and underground aquifers that make up the Great Lakes Basin and this is
balanced by loss to evaporation and flow to the Atlantic Ocean. The lakes are largely a
gift from the last ice age. The finite water in the lakes coupled with a growing demand
for water by domestic users–including utilities, agriculture, manufacturers, and
housing–and proposals to export water to other parts of the U.S. and to foreign
countries, is a cause for concern.
Without stronger protections, the Great Lakes’water supply could be siphoned off and
frittered away. The Great Lakes region has already seen massive water withdrawal
and export proposals and is experiencing local water shortages. For example:
- In 1998, a private company called the Nova Group proposed to ship water from Lake Superior to Asia in large tankers. Ontario approved, but later rescinded the permit.
- There is increasing pressure to access Great Lakes water by communities just outside the watershed divide. Milwaukee sits right on the lake and is within the Basin, but growing suburbs to the west extend beyond the watershed divide. Some of these suburbs have depleted local water supplies and are looking to meet their needs by tapping into the Great Lakes.
- Near Akron, Ohio,water diverted from the Great Lakes Basin is replaced, in part, with water from water bodies outside the watershed.
Current laws simply are not strong enough to protect the Great Lakes. In most US
jurisdictions, there are no standards for how we use water or protect freshwater
ecosystems from water withdrawals.Without stronger protections, the Great
Lakes’ region could lose its valuable water resources. Better water management
is necessary throughout the Great Lakes Basin to protect the waters that we
depend on for life.
The Great Lakes Governors and Premiers, recognizing the seriousness of this
challenge, signed the Great Lakes Charter Annex in 2001, commonly referred to as
Annex 2001. The agreement established fundamental principles for management
of Great Lakes water:
1. Preventing or minimizing water loss through return flow and implementation
of environmentally sound and economically feasible water conservation
measures;
2. Preventing significant adverse individual or cumulative impacts to the
quantity or quality of the waters and water-dependent natural resources
of the Great Lakes Basin; and
3. Improving the waters and water-dependent natural resources of the
Great Lakes Basin.
In the agreement, the Governors and Premiers committed to develop a binding
agreement to apply these principles to all water withdrawals within the Great
Lakes Basin, including tributary surface waters and groundwater.
The challenge now is for Great Lakes’ Governors, Premiers, businesses,
environmental and conservation organizations, municipal water providers, and
other interests to come together on legally binding standards that are fair,
predictable, and protective of the Great Lakes. Great Lakes leaders have a responsibility
to keep the region’s freshwater resources safe for future generations.
Last summer (2004) the Governors and Premiers released a draft of the Annex
Implementing Agreements for a 90-day public comment period. Overall, these
agreements were more protective than current laws, but they were not as
environmentally protective as many organizations and citizens across the Basin
had hoped. During the comment period, citizens flooded the Governors and
Premiers with more than 10,000 comments from around the Basin.
The Governors and Premiers recently finished incorporating these numerous
comments into new drafts of the Annex Implementing Agreements.While we have
not yet seen these documents, we understand that portions of these new drafts
are stronger than the previous drafts and other portions are weaker. Overall, the
agreements are stricter on out-of-Basin diversions of water and more lenient on
in-Basin uses of water. The Governors and Premiers are expected to release these
new documents for a 60-day public comment period this Summer (2005) and hope
to sign the agreements by the end of the year.
It will be critical that the Governors and Premiers hear comments demanding
strong, environmentally protective standards in the agreements. GLAHNF will keep
you updated about the upcoming comment period and will send out a postcard
with local hearing locations as soon as that information is available. So,watch your
mailbox and get ready to be a part of history in the making.This promises to be one
of the most important environmental protection opportunities of the century, and
we will need voices from all around the Great Lakes Basin to make sure that the
promises of Annex 2001 are realized.
Disclaimer:
The interpretations and conclusions presented in this newsletter represent the opinions of the individual authors. They in no way represent the views of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the C.S. Mott Foundation, subscribers, donors, or any organization mentioned in this publication.
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