U.S., Canadian
Officials Sign Great Lakes Water Pact
December 14, 2005 — By Andrew Stern, Reuters
CHICAGO — The leaders of eight U.S.
states and two Canadian provinces signed a pact Tuesday blocking exports
of water from the Great Lakes and calling for efforts to preserve the
world's largest body of fresh water.
The pact reached by the governors and the premiers of Quebec and Ontario
that border the five Great Lakes introduced strict standards for water
usage, sinking tentative proposals to ship water to thirsty regions such
as the U.S. Southwest or Middle East.
"It's the first time we've seen all eight Great Lakes governors and two
Canadian provinces agree on standards," said Cameron Davis of the
environmental group Alliance for the Great Lakes. "This region has been
a profligate water waster, and we now have a set of standards on the
books that helps get ourselves on the same page on how to conserve this
resource."
To come into effect, the pact must be approved by the legislatures of
each Great Lakes state -- Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan,
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota -- and the U.S. Congress.
Similarly, signatories from Quebec and Ontario need legislative
approval. All are expected to do so.
"The new agreements will improve and protect the health and economic
vitality of the Great Lakes region and allow future generations to share
the same benefits," said Ohio's Republican Gov. Bob Taft, head of the
Council of Great Lakes Governors.
The agreement, announced in Milwaukee, includes strict rules that will
make it difficult for additional communities on the edges of the Great
Lakes watershed to use its water. Previously, governors could
arbitrarily decide to include or exclude communities seeking water from
the lakes.
The pact also aims to prohibit commercial exports of lake water --
restricting withdrawals to 5-gallon (20-liter) receptacles. The
allowance was a bow to regional brewers and other interests needing
limited amounts of water, Davis said.
Existing lake water users outside the watershed, such as several Chicago
suburbs, were allowed to maintain their supply. But new users must meet
requirements that they return treated effluent back to the lakes, minus
whatever is consumed.
The city of Chicago, a consumer of hundreds of billions of gallons of
Lake Michigan water annually, is governed by a separate consent decree
in effect since the flow of the Chicago River was reversed in 1900 to
drain from the lake via locks.
More than 35 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water
and the lakes are able to replace only 1 percent of their contents
annually. The Great Lakes contain 20 percent of the world's fresh
surface water -- only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia
contain more.
On Monday, a task force created by President Bush presented its final
plan to clean up the Great Lakes -- a multibillion-dollar strategy for
which funding is in doubt.
Source: Reuters
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