Leaders Sign Accord on Great Lakes Water

By Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Dec. 14–Great Lakes governors and the premiers of Ontario and Quebec agreed to a historic accord Tuesday that in most cases would ban new diversions of water outside the basin of the lakes.

During a ceremony at the Pfister Hotel, Gov. Jim Doyle, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty signed agreements to protect the lakes from inevitable attempts to siphon off their contents.

Other leaders who could not attend the ceremony have agreed to sign the accords, officials said.

The agreements — four years in the making — come after Great Lakes leaders met at Niagara Falls, N.Y., and pledged to write water management regulations that were legally defensible and balanced by both economic and environmental considerations.

Though the agreement throws cold water on most large-scale water diversions outside the basin, it opens the door slightly for communities such as Waukesha, which need new sources of water.

The basin represents all land where water flows back to the lakes. In some areas, the basin ranges more than a 100 miles. In other areas it barely lies outside the sight of a lake. One of the narrowest regions of the basin is in southeastern Wisconsin.

Another feature is new emphasis on water conservation. The Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces will be required to implement a water conservation plan that has to be reviewed every five years.

Also, the leaders adopted new consistent standards to review future water proposals — standards that are seen as a way the Great Lakes states can turn down a large bid for water from outside the region but avoid accusations of protectionism.

Though some water experts have proclaimed that exorbitant costs have ended the era of big water diversions, the leaders told reporters they think otherwise.

“From my view it’s probably a greater threat (today),” Taft said, noting the continuing water troubles in the Sun Belt and in the West.

Doyle, who officially became chairman of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, noted recent reports that Las Vegas’ booming population could outstrip its allotment of water from the Colorado River by 2007.

“I just think this goes to show you there are enormous pressures that will come at us,” Doyle said.

Over the years, proposals to use Great Lakes water have ranged from replenishing the Ogallala Aquifer on the Great Plains to sending water by tanker to Asia.

These pressures and others — and the growing economic power of the Sun Belt — prompted the governors and premiers four years ago to begin working on new protections for the lakes.

Officials said the cumulative effects of several large diversions could harm the lakes. Only 1 percent of the lakes’ water is renewed each year. Anything more than that could lead to falling lake levels, said David Naftzger, executive director of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.

Under current law only two communities — Pleasant Prairie in Kenosha County and Akron, Ohio — have been successful at getting approval from the governors. Pleasant Prairie straddles the watershed between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River.

For Pleasant Prairie, getting lake water has helped it become one of the fastest-growing communities in the state.

Although the accord has ramifications from Minnesota to Quebec, it has added importance in southeastern Wisconsin, where thirsty communities just outside the basin have looked to Lake Michigan to solve their water problems.

The City of Waukesha, for example, is plagued with radium-tainted wells and needs to find a new source of drinking water. The city is developing shallow wells as a short-term measure but has not found a long-term solution.

One scenario is Lake Michigan, but only if Waukesha returns the water it uses back to the lakes.

Waukesha officials are still studying the water agreement, which has been in draft form for several months, and they are not sure whether it will help until they have discussions with the Department of Natural Resources.

“We don’t know whether it is good or bad for Waukesha,” said Dan Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility.

If it moves forward with a diversion request, Waukesha would still need approval from all eight governors. But the difference between the agreement signed Tuesday and current law is that with existing law, “governors could reject it for any reason,” said Todd Ambs, administration of DNR’s division of water.

“Now we have documents that ban diversions, with limited exceptions, and if a state chooses to reject an application it will have to spell out why it opposes it.”

Michigan — surrounded by the lakes — has often taken a strong stand against diversion proposals.

Doyle said he expected Waukesha to apply for Lake Michigan water, adding that it will be “very difficult for them to demonstrate (their need) under the new standards.

“But compared to where they are now, the people in Waukesha County believe that this at least gives them a method to proceed.”

Doyle said that Waukesha County’s booming growth isn’t a good enough argument to get water.

“My view in this is that our No. 1 priority in this is the protection of the Great Lakes,” he said. “It is very clear that we want to see economic growth, but we want to see it done in a sustainable manner.”

Now attention shifts to state capitals, where governors and legislatures must approve the agreement. Congress must also sign off on the accord.

If any one of these jurisdictions rejects the measure, four years of work could unravel.

In Wisconsin, a bipartisan group of lawmakers already has announced support for the agreement and is planning to draft legislation that will make the water rules law.

Doyle, a Democrat, said he expects passage in Wisconsin by spring. In Ohio, Taft, a Republican, said he expects approval by the end of 2006.

Taft said that strong regional support will help the agreement once it arrives in Washington, where members of Congress from the West and Sun Belt could take a dim view of the legislation.

“The fact that an incredible amount of work has taken place will strengthen our ability to prevail,” Taft said.

Some of the specifics of the agreement call for states to review any proposal for a new water request — or increased use of water — that averages over 100,000 gallons a day over a three-month period.

Any project that is new — or through increased use — that loses an average of 5 million gallons of water a day over three months would need to have approval by all eight states.

Though environmental and business groups said the agreement offers new safeguards for the lakes, both found shortcomings.

A business group, the Council of Great Lakes Industries, called for technical changes.

George Kuper, president of the group, said he wants to make sure that large companies that have moderated their water use are grandfathered and allowed to use historic high usage rates as their benchmark.

And a coalition of a dozen environmental groups in Wisconsin called for implementing legislation in Madison that would include more safeguards for water conservation and limits on the amount of bottled water that could be shipped outside the region.

Doyle said he was impressed that the states and provinces were able to put aside provincial squabbling — officials agreed, however, there was a lot of it during the drafting — and ultimately find common agreement.

“When astronauts orbit the earth, they can’t see borders between Wisconsin and Minnesota or Illinois or Ontario,” he said.

“Miles above, all that is visible, all that really matters, is the pristine blue waters of the Great Lakes. And it’s from that perspective that we will be ultimately judged.”

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