Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Should the Great Lakes States sucede and form a country to protect its Water Supply? In the future the Sun-belt states will be known as the Dry-belt or the Parched-belt. The US may try to come up with a national water policy to divert our fresh water to these arid parched regions.
However, there will be a fight for water in North America and the arid states of America's south-west have been getting drier in recent years. Since 2000, the Colorado River - which provides water for seven US states in the region - has carried less water than at any time in recorded history. And while the drought is worsening, the demand for water in this booming part of the country is increasing.
The states dependent on the Colorado River for their water are seeking solutions to their water shortage, with some suggesting that importing water from the majestic pure Great Lakes Region - or even towing icebergs down from the Arctic - could solve the problems.
Meanwhile, Michigan along with its sister states and Canadian provinces of the water-rich Great Lakes basin have drawn up an agreement to restrict the export of water from their region.
Experts say this pattern - of water shortages in dry regions, and protective agreements in wet areas - is likely to repeat itself elsewhere as the world demand for water begins to exceed supply. The seven US states served by the Colorado River commissioned a study in 2006 to look into ways to augment their existing supply of water. "The water levels that we considered normal flow just aren't going to exist anymore," said Pat Mulroy, chief executive of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The states asked consultants to consider the feasibility of 12 potential options, ranging from the large-scale re-use of household wastewater, to the importation of fresh water from further afield.
Although the Colorado River states did consider some of these ambitious water importation schemes, their engineers concluded that projects closer to home - like water conservation, and desalination of ocean water - were more practical and realistic options.
"I would describe some of the [water importation] options as 'brainstorming'," said Southern Nevada Water Authority spokesman Scott Huntley. "But that doesn't mean that one day water importation from further afield couldn't become a reality." "The Colorado river system will ultimately have to be augmented from somewhere," added Pat Mulroy. "But it's more feasible to divert floodwaters from the mid-west than to get water from Canada," she added.
During last year's presidential election campaign, one candidate for the Democratic Party nomination - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson - called for a National Water Policy, noting that Great Lakes states like Wisconsin were "awash in water". Chicago's Lake Michigan waterfront Chicago diverts 2bn gallons of water daily from the Great Lakes No official suggestions have been made for large-scale transfers of water from the Great Lakes basin to the parched south-west. But that has not prevented the US states and two Canadian provinces that surround the lakes to draw up an agreement restricting the export of water from the region.
The agreement - known as the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact - bans any new diversion of water from the Great Lakes basin, though "limited exceptions could be allowed in communities near the Basin when rigorous standards are met".
However, is this enough?? The Great Lakes Megalopolis consists of the group of North American metropolitan areas which surround the Great Lakes region and Saint Lawrence Seaway. The region extends from the Milwaukee–Chicago corridor to the Detroit–Toronto corridor, and includes, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Akron, Erie, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Louisville, Ottawa, Quad Cities, Rochester, South Bend and Toledo, reaching as far east as Buffalo and Pittsburgh, and as far west as Kansas City and the Twin Cities. The region had an estimated population of 59,144,461 as of 2011 and is projected to reach about 65 million by 2025. What more can the Great Lakes Region to ensure that its water is not diverted? Would succession be the only answer?
All but three sentences were plagiarized... Poor form OP, poor form. Anyway, it's not "our" water. Nobody owns the great lakes and I'm pretty sure that diverting the water from the great lakes would breach some kind of international protocol.
Didn't the question of secession get answered 150 years ago?
Ignoring the fact that the question of secession wasn't exactly "answered" either by the outcome of the Civil War or the Texas v White Supreme Court case of 1869, who cares about 150-year-old "answers", in a general sense? Arrive at your own answers. I see no reason why any state/conglomerate of states shouldn't have the right to secede. I'd say that a massive repopulation of the "Rust Belt"/Great Lakes states/North in general is incredibly more likely than a 1.) secession of the Great Lakes states and 2.) formation of the "Superior Republic of ErieOntarioHuronMichigan", but it's a not unworthwhile question to ask. Impending resource scarcity is a very real issue, and the water of the Great Lakes will be coveted by far more people than just the spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority
Ignoring the fact that the question of secession wasn't exactly "answered" either by the outcome of the Civil War or the Texas v White Supreme Court case of 1869, who cares about 150-year-old "answers", in a general sense? Arrive at your own answers. I see no reason why any state/conglomerate of states shouldn't have the right to secede. I'd say that a massive repopulation of the "Rust Belt"/Great Lakes states/North in general is incredibly more likely than a 1.) secession of the Great Lakes states and 2.) formation of the "Superior Republic of ErieOntarioHuronMichigan", but it's a not unworthwhile question to ask. Impending resource scarcity is a very real issue, and the water of the Great Lakes will be coveted by far more people than just the spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority
I agree 100 percent. There used to be a lot more people in places like Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit before people started moving West and Southwest in the latter part of the last century, and I'm starting to think many will return in a few years as water in that region gets more and more scarce.
It would be nice to think that such an influx of people would help bring a new golden age to the Lakes and an unprecedented standard of living that those of us already here would get to share in. Cleveland and Erie both are already in comeback mode; it's kind of exciting to think of how far they could go. Hopefully, I'm not being too optimistic.
Somehow St. Louis gets clumped in this megalopolis, but I think its a relatively tenuous association. Despite rail connections to Chicago and being on the border of Illinois, is this a legitimate megalopolis that stretches nearly 300 miles from the Great Lakes its named after? Maybe if we actually had those 300 mph bullet trains it would be a more cohesive region centered around Chicago. I could actually see people commuting from Chicago to St. Louis and vice versa if there were Maglev trains that could allow people to get from the Arch to the Loop in 90 mins.
The Great Lakes states are sitting on billions of dollars in wealth via gas, oil and coal, but they are not going to tap it because of the green people's desire to make us suffer.
The Great Lakes states are sitting on billions of dollars in wealth via gas, oil and coal, but they are not going to tap it because of the green people's desire to make us suffer.
What can I say? That's just the way we all learned it back in grade school --- I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America except the Great Lakes states who should be made to suffer.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Secede, not "sucede." 
