Government | July 08, 2008 |
Great Lakes States to Consolidate Water Control
It’s an abundant, and taken-for-granted part of life to most of the developed world, but as anyone who’s seen the cinematic classic Chinatown knows, water is a powerful political commodity.
Good fortune for the Northeastern United States, then, that one fifth of the world’s fresh surface water sits right in its back yard in the form of the Great Lakes. Good fortune, too, that those states bordering the lakes are in the final stages of a process that should legally prevent foreign and domestic interests from staking a claim on their water.
While the tragedy of the Aral Sea serves as fair warning against overuse and abuse of the water resource, an expanding world population with very limited access to fresh, clean water presents a something of a moral obligation to the developed areas of the world. And on this point, a former word’s richest man agrees with me.
While I respect that the Great Lakes states depend on, and should have some control over this resource, trying to slip it past Congress before legislators have realized the seriousness of water supply issues seems like the wrong way to go about it.
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Comments By Readers
Its not the wrong way to go about it, its the right way. If the water is shipped off to another country or even just overused within the basin, the water quality and therefore the ability to use the water will decrease substantially. Only approximately 1 percent of the lakes water is replenished annually through precipitation, runoff and groundwater sources. Therefore, if water is taken from the Great Lakes, the water will then deplete beyond use. In addition to those around the world who are in need of water, the 40 million people in the Great Lakes basin will also be in need. Why do we have the authority to degrade this freshwater while people throughout the world do not ever have access to any? If the water quality of the Great Lakes is preserved and restored, attentions can be focused on other solutions to the water shortage around the world, rather than creating another one.
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