Tag: water policy
Diverting Great Lakes Water to Cities
Fast-growing cities beyond the Great Lakes basin want to withdraw water from the lakes. The Council of the Great Lakes Governors is considering allowing more to do so. (Photo: Sleeping Bear Dunes, Lake Michigan, by Lester Graham)
More cities and businesses outside the Great Lakes basin want to take water from the Lakes. Great Lakes governors and provincial leaders are working on proposed new rules to control water diversions. Their proposal is expected to be released this month. Some say there's a chance that more communities just outside the basin will get some water from the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Chuck Quirmbach has the story:
https://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2004/07/quirmbach_071204.mp3
More cities and businesses outside the Great Lakes basin want to take water from the Lakes. Great Lakes governors and provincial leaders are working on proposed new rules to control water diversions. Their proposal is expected to be released this month. Some say there's a chance that more communities just outside the basin will get some lake water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Chuck Quirmbach has the story.
Only a few communities outside the Great Lakes Basin currently get water from the Lakes, but some inland cities are growing and running short on groundwater supplies. One such city is Waukesha, Wisconsin. Waukesha is 25 miles away from Lake Michigan. The city is on the far side of the sub-continental divide that separates the Great Lakes basin from the basin where surface waters drain to the Mississippi river.
(pump house noise for a few seconds, then fade under)
At the sunset pumping station in Waukesha, blue-painted pumps push groundwater from a large storage tank towards the homes of some of the city's 65-thousand residents. Waukesha's population has grown about 30 percent over the last two decades, so water utility general manager Dan Duchniak says the city is pumping more water than it used to…especially during dry periods when people water their lawns.
"When we did not have all the rain we had, we had our peak days around 10-11 million gallons a day – now around 12-13 million gallons a day. It goes up couple hundred thousand gallons per year."
(gradually fade pump noise out)
No one in Waukesha is doing without tap water, but the groundwater table has dropped 300 feet over the last 50 years. And there's another problem. Waukesha's water supply is tainted by radium, a naturally occurring contaminant that could cause cancer. One of Waukesha's long-term ideas for improving its water is to abandon the city wells and pump in up to twenty million gallons a day from Lake Michigan. In a complicated argument, hydrologists say Waukesha's groundwater aquifer and the lake are connected anyway, so Dan Duchniak says a pipeline to the lake would not be a new withdrawal of water, and would actually help restore the original natural system.
"All we're saying to make it real simple right now we have a vertical straw that is pulling water from the aquifer that has its tributary to the Great Lakes, we just want to take that water and make it horizontal for the better of the environment all around us."
Duchniak has the ear of Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle. Governor Doyle is the new Chair of the Council of Great Lakes Governors. Among other things the council decides on water withdrawals from the Great Lakes. The governors of the eight Great Lakes states and leaders of Quebec and Ontario are expected to soon release a proposal called annex 2001. If passed, it will update rules on diverting great lakes water. Governor Doyle says he opposes sending water out of the Midwest, but he says short-distance diversions might be okay, if there's a drop for drop return of clean water. Doyle acknowledges he needs unanimous agreement.
"There's no reason for a governor of another state to approve even a small diversion unless they have some real confidence that the Great Lakes will be protected. That's the way we protect it. Every single governor needs to approve."
Governor Doyle says any change in diversion policy is years away. Still, environmental groups are closely watching for the annex 2001 proposal. Reg Gilbert is with Great Lakes United. He says before any more diversions are allowed, the plan should include more guidelines for water conservation. he says the lakes are too important to put them at risk by withdrawing too much water.
"Both our quality of life and a significant part of our economics come from a good functioning Great Lakes and if the rules for protecting it require it being difficult to divert water even those communities that want to divert that water might want to think twice and see it's in the best interest of the whole region to have pretty strong rules… even if it makes it a little bit harder for some communities to get the water they need."
Gilbert says he's also looking for a plan that will pass muster with international trade courts that have questioned the legality of great lakes officials controlling the local waters. Gilbert's hoping a lot of people will weigh in with their ideas during an upcoming comment period.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I'm Chuck Quirmbach
The Council of Great Lakes Governors Water Management Initiative
Great Lakes United page on water diversion
Author Chuck QuirmbachPosted on July 12, 2004 Categories Features, Water WithdrawalsTags annex, annex 2001, aquifer, aquifers, diversion, diversions, drinking water, hydrology, ijc, international joint commission, lake michigan, surface water, water, water policy, water treatment, waukesha, wisconsin, withdraw, withdrawals
Report Says Water Worries Overstated
The international commission that keeps an eye on the environmental health of the Great Lakes will hold public hearings later this month on a report that looks at water use in the basin. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Sarah Hulett reports, the findings are not pleasing to some environmentalists:
https://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/01/hulett_011303.mp3
The international commission that keeps an eye on the environmental health of the Great Lakes
will hold public hearings later this month on a report that looks at water use in the basin. And as
the Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Sarah Hulett reports, the findings are not pleasing
environmentalists:
The International Joint Commission asked a team of experts to examine water issues including
use and diversion, climate change, and conservation. The report says the problem of water
overuse in the Great Lakes has been overstated in the past three decades, while conservation has
been underestimated. It also calls the prospect of diverting water to arid southwest states "a dead
issue."
Cameron Davis is with the Lake Michigan Federation. He says the report fails to recognize the
issues that will face the Great Lakes in the long term.
"One of the concerns that I have is that, in saying we're not using that much water, that the
hidden message is don't worry. We don't have a problem."
But the U.S. chair of the IJC, Dennis Schornack, says recognizing the pitfalls of faulty
projections is important to shaping future water policy.
The Commission will hear public comment on the report before drafting its own plan to present
to the governments of Canada and the U.S.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I'm Sarah Hulett.
Author Sarah HulettPosted on January 13, 2003 Categories News SpotsTags canada, climate, climate change, conservation, environment, environmental health, environmental issues, environmental policy, environmentalists, great lakes, great lakes region, ijc, international joint commission, lake michigan federation, public hearings, public policy, water, water issues, water policy, water quality, water use, weather
Walkerton Water Tragedy Revisited
The consequences of the tainted water tragedy in southern Ontario are still being assessed. Seven people died and more than two thousand were made sick nearly two years ago, when the bacteria E. coli was found in drinking water in Walkerton, Ontario. An inquiry into the tragedy lasted more than a year, and a preliminary report was released last month. It blamed the two men in charge of the public utilities commission in Walkerton. But it also pointed the finger at cuts made years before by the Ontario government. Environmentalists across the Great Lakes are concerned that unless the lessons of Walkerton are learned on both sides of the border, water supplies will again be placed at risk. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Dan Karpenchuk reports:
https://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2002/03/karpenchuk_031102.mp3
The consequences of the tainted water tragedy in southern Ontario are still being assessed. Seven people died and more than two thousand were made sick nearly two years ago when the bacteria, E. coli, was found in drinking water in Walkerton, Ontario. An inquiry into the tragedy lasted more than a year, and a preliminary report was released last month. It blamed the two men in charge of the public utilities commission in Walkerton. But it also pointed the finger at cuts made years before by the Ontario government. Environmentalists across the Great Lakes are concerned that unless the lessons of Walkerton are learned on both sides of the border, water supplies will again be placed at risk. The Great Lakes Radio Consortiums Dan Karpenchuk reports from Toronto:
Walkerton is a small community of five thousand people about 135 miles northwest of Toronto not far from Lake Huron. There's some light industry, some tourism… but agriculture is the economic mainstay. The E. coli disaster put the town of Walkerton in the headlines, where it's remained. Some still feel the effects of the tainted water through an assortment of medical symptoms and complications. Others won't drink the water; no matter what assurances they've been given that it's safe. Many, like Robert Cooney, remain bitter.
"People in this town are sick of the whole thing. Yes, they got compensation. But for the people that are on dialysis and the people that lost loved ones, we're looking for something. Something went wrong."
There was a lot that went wrong, according to the man who headed the inquiry into the tragedy. In January, Justice Dennis O'Connor released his report. He concluded that the brothers who ran the Public Utilities Commission contributed directly to the tragedy, first by failing to properly monitor the drinking water, then by trying to cover up the emerging catastrophe by actively misleading health officials, assuring them the water was safe.
But O'Connor also turned his criticism on the government of Ontario, saying cuts to the MOE, or Ministry of Environment, undermined its ability to deal with the problems in Walkerton.
"The provincial government's budget reductions led to the discontinuation of government laboratory testing services for municipalities in 1996."
Now six years later, those services still have not been reinstated.
"In implementing this decision, the government should have enacted a regulation mandating that testing laboratories immediately and directly notify the MOE and the medical officer of health of adverse results. Had the government done this, the boil water advisory would have been issued by May 19 at the latest, thereby preventing hundreds of illnesses."
The Conservative government in Ontario reacted quickly to the allegations. Premier Mike Harris, who early on during the inquiry, maintained that his government's policies were not to blame, now did an about face.
"I deeply regret any factors leading to the events of May 2000, that were the responsibility of the government of Ontario either prior to or during my tenure as premier."
Harris went further in his attempts to limit the political damage. He said many of the recommendations made by Justice O'Connor would be implemented. They included continuous chlorine monitors for wells, increased inspections and better training for operators.
But many critics say they they're not convinced. They say a week after the 700-page report was released, neither Harris nor any member of his cabinet, had read it.
Far from Walkerton, the political fallout is being felt most in Toronto, seat of the province's legislature…. and home to many of Ontario's environmental groups.
The Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policies says the problems in Walkerton have called attention to the broader issue of water quality in the region. Researchers say the amount of pollutants discharged into rivers and lakes more than doubled between 1995 and 1999. And over the same period the number of provincial water testing sites was cut by two thirds.
That could have serious implications for the province's lakes and rivers…. and since those systems feed into the Great Lakes, the entire region is at risk.
Professor Louis Mallott was involved in the study….
"We concluded that Ontario is unable to assess the overall quality of Ontario's inland waters that flow into the Great Lakes. And this is necessary to determine whether Ontario's environmental policies are effective."
Over the past year almost four hundred cases of bad water have turned up in Ontario. E. coli and other bacteria have plagued water systems in towns, trailer parks, schools, private homes and even a nudist colony. And that worries people like Paul Muldoon, the executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association. Muldoon says Ontario is also sending a clear message south of the border, and it's not a positive one.
"I am convinced that if I was in the U.S. right now, I could at least legitimately raise the issue, saying lookit Canadians sure we cause stresses in the Great Lakes and there's lots of issues here. But don't talk to us until you get your act together and Walkerton is a glowing example, you do not have your act together. And since Walkerton there's not a lot of evidence you've got your act together yet despite that wake up call, despite the depth of that tragedy."
The Ontario government, however, insists the situation is improving.
But critics aren't buying it. They say Ontario's environmental problems have not only jeopardized the province, but could affect the entire Great Lakes region. They say there is a clear message to governments on both sides of the border…. that budget cuts and privatization could lead to more tragedies like Walkerton.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I'm Dan Karpenchuk.
Author Dan KarpenchukPosted on March 11, 2002 Categories FeaturesTags bacteria, debate, human health, lake, law, legislation, province, public health, river, tragedy, water contamination, water flow, water policy, water quality, water systems
New Bottling Plant Stirs Water Debate
A test well being dug in preparation for the construction of the Ice Mountain bottling plant. Perrier hopes to have the plant up and running by next spring. Photo by Patrick Owen/MLUI.
Is Great Lakes water for sale? That's the issue on the table in Michigan right now, where the Perrier Group of America has begun construction on a 100 million dollar water bottling operation. Last year, government officials in Wisconsin rejected a similar proposal from Perrier. The Michigan plan has sparked local opposition and more. The start of the plant's construction has given birth to concerns about whether groundwater in Great Lakes states should be considered part of the Great Lakes water basin. And if it is, some question whether it should be for sale. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Matt Shafer Powell reports:
https://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/12/powell_120301.mp3
Is Great Lakes water for sale? That's the issue on the table in Michigan right now, where the Perrier Group of America has begun construction on a 100 million dollar water bottling operation. Last year, government officials in Wisconsin rejected a similar proposal from Perrier. The Michigan plan has sparked local opposition and more. The start of the plant's construction has given birth to concerns about whether groundwater in Great Lakes states should be considered part of the Great Lakes water basin. And if it is, some question whether it should be for sale. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Matt Shafer Powell reports.
Eight Mile Road in rural Mecosta County, Michigan is one of the area's busier roads, one of the few ways to get to the interstate. It's surrounded by thousands of acres of farmland. And at its peak, you can see the Little Muskegon River Valley as it stretches for miles across this point where Michigan becomes Northern Michigan.
(sound of construction)
When Perrier Group Project Manager Brendan O'Rourke saw this stretch of Eight Mile Road, he knew that it would be the perfect place for Perrier's new Ice Mountain spring water bottling operation.
"Clearly, it's a beautiful place to live and work, it has abundant natural spring water, the highway system allows for easy access to the marketplace, there's an available work force and there's high quality spring water."
But local resident Terry Swier rarely uses Eight Mile Road anymore. She says it upsets her too much to see the walls of the Perrier plant rising out of what was once a cornfield. Swier is president of the group Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, a group that formed out of citizen opposition to the plant. Since December, Swier says her group has attracted more than 12-hundred local residents. Most of them are concerned about how local streams, rivers and lakes will be affected by an operation that plans to pump more than 700-thousand gallons of water a day from the ground. But despite her efforts to stop the plant's construction, work has continued and the plant should be ready to begin operation next Spring.
"It's just very frustrating how they have the arrogance to say that 'we can proceed.' It's like not even paying attention to the people who are here in the area."
Perrier officials insist the company has made every effort to listen to local residents and address their concerns. They say they've done studies that show the environmental impact will be minimal. And they say the extra 600-thousand dollars a year in tax revenue the plant will generate will go a long way in Mecosta County. Local government officials agree. But Mecosta Township Supervisor John Boyd says he's more excited by the possibility that Perrier may bring up to 200 new jobs to the area.
"I've been to meetings and they say 'Well, what's the tax base, what'd you gain on the tax base?' and I say 'Hell, I ain't even looked at it', because basically, we're looking for good jobs that sustain people, that will let our kids stay here, stay in the community, and last, we're looking for a business that will be here tomorrow when we're gone."
But construction of the plant and local opposition to it are only the starting points for an issue that has reached far beyond the farmlands of Mecosta County. That's because the natural springs that lie beneath the ground there feed into the Little Muskegon River, which in turn, feeds into Lake Michigan. Of primary concern to critics is a federal law that requires the approval of all eight Great Lakes governors for any water diversion from the Great Lakes basin. In September, Michigan's attorney general concluded that the groundwater in Mecosta County should indeed be considered Great Lakes water, and its sale should be approved by the governors. Michigan's Governor John Engler, though, disagrees on both points and has even offered Perrier nearly ten million dollars in tax breaks. That's something that frustrates Keith Schneider, of the Michigan Land Use Institute.
"If states are approving diversions of Great Lakes water, they need to consult each other. And the reason they need to consult each other is because we sit on the largest source of fresh water on the planet and this resource is getting ever more valuable. I mean we're essentially the Saudi Arabia of water here."
If it's proven nothing else, the controversy over the Perrier plant has exposed the lack of solid, enforceable groundwater policy throughout the Great Lakes. But in Michigan, that may be changing. In the state capitol of Lansing, various legislative and environmental groups have already begun to unveil their own water control packages—they include everything from the abolishment of tax breaks for companies that bottle water to mandatory assurances that local water quality won't be sacrificed by those companies. And some groups are calling for a law that would require companies that sell water to pay royalties in the same way that oil and gas companies do now. If it's ever passed, such a royalty would put a definitive value on water as a natural resource. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I'm Matt Shafer Powell in Mecosta County, Michigan.
Read the Michigan Land Use Institute's report Liquid Gold Rush
See Perrier's website on its Ice Mountain Plant in Mecosta County, Michigan
Author Matt Shafer PowellPosted on December 3, 2001 Categories FeaturesTags bottled water, fresh water, great lakes, groundwater, john engler, lake michigan, lakes, legislation, michigan, muskegon river, natural resources, perrier, perrier plant, policy, spring water, tax revenue, water, water conservation, water policy, water quality, water supply
Governments to Meter Water Use?
From industrial processing to backyard pools, millions of gallons
of Great Lakes water are used everyday. And for many people in the
region, that water is cheap. They live in towns where they pay a flat
no matter how much they use. That's something the International Joint
Commission wants to change. It's asking governments to start charging
people – and industry – for the real cost of their water. The Great
Radio Consortium's Karen Kelly reports:
https://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2000/04/kelly.mp3
Author Karen KellyPosted on April 17, 2000 Categories FeaturesTags consumption, environment canada, epa, ijc, international joint commission, lake, levels, quality, water, water conservation, water meters, water monitoring, water policy, water use
Stronger Restrictions on Water Export
The number of people living in areas without fresh water is
growing. And that's made the Great Lakes more vulnerable to proposals
that would remove large volumes of water. In late March, the International Joint Commission announced a plan to regulate
water removal from the Great Lakes. If adopted, it will severely
bulk exports of drinking water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's
Karen Kelly reports:
https://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2000/03/kelly-1.mp3
Author Karen KellyPosted on March 27, 2000 Categories FeaturesTags asia, canada, conservation, developing countries, developing nations, drinking water, environmental, fresh water, glu, great lakes united, ijc, international joint commission, international law, natural resources, nova group, pipelines, policy, selling water, water, water consumption, water diversions, water policy, water shortages
Great Lakes Diversion
The International Joint Commission is looking into the issue of
diversion of Great Lakes water. They've been given six months to
recommend an interim policy. Over the last two weeks, they've been
conducting a series of public forums on the issue. I-J-C Chairman Tom
Baldini has a few thoughts:
https://environmentreport.org/wp-content/uploads/1999/03/baldini.mp3
Author Tom BaldiniPosted on March 22, 1999 Categories CommentaryTags canada, commentary, consumption, diversion, freshwater, great lakes water diversion, ijc, international joint commission, international relations, water, water diversion, water exports, water policy