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Saturday, October 27, 2007
Environment - "States eye lakes water management"
On October 22nd the ILB posted an entry headed "Canadian company mining Indiana aquifer." The entry concluded:
No talk here of water management policies. The day may soon be past, and perhaps it should be already, when a community will so eagerly, and with the help of the state administration, sell off the rights to draw down its aquifer for the promise of 100 jobs.Today Gitte Laasby of the Gary Post-Tribune reports:
Great Lakes water levels are near historic lows. And with droughts in the Southeast and Southwest, the pressure to turn to the Great Lakes as a source of fresh water is growing.So is the need for states to pass the Great Lakes Compact to prevent diversions.
The Georgian Bay Association released new figures in August indicating that an extra 2.5 billion gallons of water are being drained from the lakes every day. It takes about 99 years for water in Lake Michigan to replenish itself.
Meanwhile, New Mexico Gov. and Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson hinted earlier this month that he'd be willing to divert Great Lakes water when he said "states like Wisconsin are awash in water." He later partially withdrew that statement. * * *
State groups and supporters of the Compact expect to have legislation for the Indiana General Assembly to consider this spring. The compact says states have discretion to decide their own thresholds for diversions, but the default is 100,000 gallons per day.
Indiana has suggested new or increased withdrawals from Lake Michigan be capped at 5 million gallons per day on average for a 90-day period. Withdrawals from other lakes, streams or groundwater would be capped at a million gallons per day average. Above those limits, facilities would need a permit from the state.
Existing uses, for instance municipal plants, would be protected up to the facilities' current withdrawal capacity, but require a permit to go beyond.
There's bipartisan support for the compact, but a short legislative session doesn't leave room for many delays. Minnesota and Illinois have already adopted it. For the compact to take effect, the states would have to pass identical legislation and Congress would need to approve. [Emphasis added by ILB.]
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 27, 2007 04:47 PM
Posted to Environment