Archives
[Back] [Email to a Friend] [Printer Friendly Version]
Virtual newsprint edition available
See this story exactly as it appeared on the printed page – photos and all.
Page appears in Adobe Acrobat format. If you don't have Adobe's free Acrobat Reader, download it now.
We Must Protect Great Lakes Waters
Wisconsin State Journal :: OPINION :: A8
Saturday, August 13, 2005
MELISSA K. SCANLAN
People often stare in disbelief when told that the Great Lakes could be
drained to supply water needs around the world, while enriching a
handful of multinational corporations that could take water free of
charge.Part of the disbelief comes from our perceived water abundance. After all, we are bordered by two Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, we live above abundant groundwater aquifers, and we are surrounded by 15,000 lakes and 84,000 miles of streams and rivers.
Despite this abundance, parts of Wisconsin face water scarcity. For example, Madison has drawn down its underground aquifer so much that it has reversed the flow of groundwater; its lakes are now feeding the groundwater, rather than the other way around. Waukesha wants to tap into Lake Michigan with a pipeline from Milwaukee, then use and dispose of it in the separate Mississippi River Basin.
Water scarcity is becoming a reality -- the "oil" of the 21st century. A handful of multinational corporations is capitalizing on this scarcity by amassing control of water resources in what is now a $1 trillion industry.
Wisconsin had its own brush with privatization on a large scale in 2000 when Nestle/Perrier attempted to bottle Wisconsin's spring waters. In an incredible display of community concern that combined local organizing, town hall meetings, media outreach, state legislation and litigation, Wisconsin's residents sent Perrier packing. But this episode exposed the lack of legal protections for water.
Concerns about whether we can protect and conserve water in its natural state or be forced to trade it under international trade agreements are growing along with demand for privately supplied water.
That is why Great Lakes governors and Canadian premiers must ensure that the Great Lakes Charter Annex Implementing Agreements now under review must protect the Great Lakes as a public trust and not as a tradable commodity.
We all should support the agreement's general prohibition against diversions of Great Lakes water. However, the bottled water industry wants an exemption that permits the unlimited exporting of Great Lakes water in 5.7 gallon and smaller bottles.
This giveaway is bad public policy, could be precedent-setting for other industries, and must be removed from the proposed agreement.
With 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water held in the Great Lakes, Wisconsin, the other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces control a valuable, vulnerable resource. Deciding how to manage this asset will affect our state and region's economic strength, public health and rights.
\ Scanlan is executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, a non-profit environmental law center.
\ For more information: An explanation of the proposed Great Lakes Charter Annex Implementing Agreements is available at www.cglg.org/projects/water/annex2001Implementing.asp.