[mkfarnam]

Now how is the jurisdction of the Great Lakes justified. Example?) Wisconsin owns 1/2 or a small % of Lake Michigan? Or is it predicted by who has the most shoreline?
Just curious......

[baystater]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

Now how is the jurisdction of the Great Lakes justified. Example?) Wisconsin owns 1/2 or a small % of Lake Michigan? Or is it predicted by who has the most shoreline?
Just curious......

http://www.cglg.org/projects/water/d...es_Compact.pdf


http://www.cglg.org/projects/water/C...ons_4-5-07.pdf


Great Lakes--St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact Implementation

Great Lakes Water Wars

[crazyme4878]

The Great Lakes are bigger than just their surface water or shorelines. It is their watersheds that are important. A watershed is the area that drains into a certain water system. Here it is the water that drains into each Great Lake. This includes both surface and ground water. The watersheds have been well studied and their boundaries have been agreed upon by scientists. This is how jurisdiction has been justified (for the most part) and why bottling water from wells/springs away from the actual shoreline still matter.

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by crazyme4878

The Great Lakes are bigger than just their surface water or shorelines. It is their watersheds that are important. A watershed is the area that drains into a certain water system. Here it is the water that drains into each Great Lake. This includes both surface and ground water. The watersheds have been well studied and their boundaries have been agreed upon by scientists. This is how jurisdiction has been justified (for the most part) and why bottling water from wells/springs away from the actual shoreline still matter.

The DEQ agrees with you!! In fact that is my new way to get home owners insurance to pay for replacement wells with holes in the old 2" casing.
Their insured is at risk of polluting the aquifer.

[baystater]

Nestle wins approval to produce more water | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Nestle will mainly use the new well for peak production in the spring and summer, said Nestle spokeswoman Deb Muchmore in Lansing. Nestle withdraws water from four existing wells near its Stanwood bottling plant in west central Michigan at an average rate of 218 gallons per minute, and the new well will add 150 gallons per minute of capacity. The company has sought permission for the new well since 2006.

The compact leaves decisions about bottled water operations to the states, said James Clift, policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council. The only restriction in the compact says that you can’t export water in containers 5.7 gallons or larger.

Even with its new well, Nestle will use less water every day than the Gerber baby foods plant in Fremont or the 7-Up plant in Holland, Muchmore said.

[suydam]

Originally Posted by baystater

Nestle wins approval to produce more water | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Death by 1,000 pin-pricks.

[baystater]

Not so fast Stupak sees devil in the details of pending Great Lakes Compact - Bay City Times - MLive.com

U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak says the Great Lakes Compact is on a fast track to approval, and folks can "kiss the Great Lakes goodbye" if that happens.

The compact, designed to protect the Great Lakes from large withdrawals, contains a loophole that would commercialize water, contends Stupak, D-Menominee

.

Stupak has asked Conyers to insert language into a bill report to clarify that "our water is not for sale," and that commercialization of water is not the compact's intent.

Adding that language to the report would allow the House to pass the compact without sending it back to the states for reapproval, Stupak said.

Stupak argues that the compact's current reference to water as a product would open up Great Lakes water to the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts.

That would likely result in more water bottling plants locating along the Great Lakes, and calls in future years to pipe lake water to parched regions, he said.

He thinks legislators who have endorsed the compact - most everyone but him - have forgotten that water should be held in the public trust rather than for monetary interests.

[Ann_Arbor]

"The agreement prevents remote states or countries from tapping into the lakes from their natural drainage basin with rare exceptions. It also requires the states to regulate their own large-scale water uses and promote conservation."

Does anyone know what 'rare exceptions' means. Is it like- "our soccer fields in Pheonix are getting dry so we need water", or is it more- "like we're stupid because millions of us moved to a state with an un-sustainable amount of water, so we need yours".

[baystater]

The Great Lakes Basin Compact



Great Lakes compact gets swift approval by Congress | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

House approves Great Lakes compact - NewsFlash - mlive.com

Well it might not be perfect. But I think at least this type of legislation is heading in the right direction.

[suydam]

Originally Posted by baystater

Well it might not be perfect. But I think at least this type of legislation is heading in the right direction.

I agree, but we must remain vigilant.
The #1 diversion right now, the one that keeps getting brought to the courts, is expressly permitted by the compact: Bottled Water.

Bart Stupak opposed the compact for this reason.

While I supported approving this to get somewhere, I also think we should turn right around and try to address the bottled water issue.

We have left the flood-gates open... they just have to bottle it before it heads to Scottsdale... it's still going to head there.