In July 2008, Congress and the Great Lakes states passed the much-heralded Great Lakes Compact as the end-protection to prevent diversions of water out of the Great Lakes Basin. The fanfare masked a flaw in the diversion ban of the Compact, a loophole that will expand, undermining the diversion ban and leading to massive exports of water out of the Great Lakes if raw water is labeled a "product."
Buried in the definitions of the Compact, water in any size container or package that is transferred outside the basin is exempted from diversions. Water exported outside of the Great Lakes Basin as a "product" in any size container or quantity is not subject to the diversion ban.
The real issue is not bottled water. It is about who will own and control the largest flowing body of fresh surface water in the world. Corporations behind the U.N World Water Forum have been angling to turn water into a tradable commodity.
The Economist recently published an article calling for water trading and pricing. Then a major player in carbon trading announced plans to apply "cap and trade" principles to trade water out of the Great Lakes Basin. Add to this the specter of the U.S. debt to China and other countries, the rising world water crisis, and the stage is set for a collapse of the Great Lakes Compact if citizens, communities and leaders in the Great Lakes Basin and North America do not wake up and oppose these threats.
The loophole in the Compact can be plugged and public control of our public waters can be restored.
Water has been a public resource under public control for more than 2,000 years. The U.S. Supreme Court and state courts have ruled that the Great Lakes and their tributary waters are held as a public trust for the benefit of citizens and communities.
Just what is this public trust? It means the waters of a state, like Michigan, are owned by the state on behalf of its citizens. In other words, the public owns the water. It means water cannot be sold or alienated for private gain or profit. It means the state has a solemn and perpetual duty to protect these waters to meet the needs of all citizens living within a watershed -- for fishing, boating, navigation, swimming, drinking, farming, tourism, business.
Despite the importance of public control and public trust in water, Great Lakes governors, Congress and state Legislatures left this fundamental legal principle out of the Compact. There is a war brewing over the world's water, and the Great Lakes are smack in the middle of it.
The stakes are high: liberty, democracy, peace, our way of life and economic stability for all.
Support the Flow For Water Great Lakes Coalition and sign the pledge to close the "water as product" loophole and restore the public trust at www.Flowforwater.
org. Join the effort to prohibit the shift of public water to private control and ownership at www.saveMI
water.org.
About the author: Jim Olson, a Traverse City attorney, is chairman of the steering committee of the Flow For Water Great Lakes Coalition.
About the forum: The forum is a periodic column of opinion written by Record-Eagle readers in their areas of interest or expertise. Submissions of 500 words or less may be made by e-mailing letters@record-eagle.com. Please include biographical information and a photo.
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