water conservation for the great lakes

In last Sunday’s Press-Gazette, there was a great article on the Great Lakes. It is on page A-12, the “PERSPECTIVE” page, and is not posted on their website. The Annex 2001 agreement has actually been strengthened. It makes it very difficult for any business or municipality outside of the Great Lakes watershed to use Great Lakes water. The eight governors and two premiers of the states and provinces surrounding the Great Lakes are signing the agreement in Milwaukee tomorrow. It needs to be ratified by the legislatures of the those bodies and the U.S. Congress in order to have legal teeth. In the meantime, individual cities and states could voluntarily meet the standards on their own.

The article, written by AP reporter John Flesher, discusses the utmost importance of conservation in terms of solving our water problems. It is online at YAHOO! NEWS. It points out that conservation is not only good ecological policy, it is what’s best for business.

This is such an important issue. Along with shoreline development, toxic chemicals, and invasive species, water use is one of the top ecological concerns regarding the Great Lakes. The rest of the world is going to have its eyes on our water in much the same way it currently has its eyes on Mideast oil. I keep picturing that scene from a futuristic sci-fi movie a few years back where Lake Superior was drained dry because we were piping the water away to the rest of the country. That is not such a far-fetched possibility. Sometimes I think that the states and provinces around the Great Lakes should secede from their respective countries and form a new “Great Lakes Republic”. Pseudo-leaders like George Bush would not be allowed! -the new “green” states

The scariest part of the article is the following two paragraphs:

Fair enough, said George Kuper, president of the Council of Great Lakes Industries, which represents corporate heavyweights such as Eastman Kodak and Dow Chemical Co. Encourage efficiency, but don't entangle businesses in rules and paperwork. And don't limit access to the abundant water supply that is the region's biggest advantage in the nationwide competition for jobs.

"One problem I've always had with the Annex approach is that in the name of protecting water, we're locking it up," Kuper said. "Water is a renewable resource, like air."

I say scary because George Kuper probably has a lot influence. He is obviously a very short-sighted person.

Clean water is clearly not a renewable resource and there is less clean water available all of the time. Water can be used in a sustainable way, but I definitely wouldn’t classify it as renewable. The article does a good job of responding to Kuper’s point and explains how water is clearly not inexhaustible and clean water renews itself at very slow rates. I send kudos to Flesher for correcting a great error in thinking! It is not often a modern reporter actually clears up the misstatements spewed forth by industry.

One sign of hope is that water use along the Great Lakes has begun to decline. This is mostly due to more efficient industrial practices.

I thought one point was clearly missed. The Press-Gazette includes a list of nine typical things that individuals can do to save water. One of the most significant ways people can conserve water is to stop eating meat. That was definitely NOT on the list. A huge percentage of the 43 billion gallons of water drawn from the Great Lakes by its citizens in 2002 was used to irrigate crops. Over half of those crops are used to feed livestock. It takes more than 2000 gallons of water to raise one pound of beef. That is more water than 6 months worth of showers! (Worldwatch Institute) The meat industry is incredibly water intensive. If you want to save water, skip a steak. This is the monster in the corner that rarely gets mentioned.

eddy out,
rich