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The Great Lakes, with 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply and 95 percent of all fresh surface water in the United States, are a coveted water supply. The drainage area for the Great Lakes Basin marks the true boundaries of the vast Great Lakes ecosystem. Within the basin region live 33 million people who rely upon, and benefit from, living close to the world’s largest and most unique freshwater system. Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great Lakes; its basin area is home to more than ten million people, with six million of them living in Illinois.
The Great Lake’s apparent abundance of water is deceiving. Only one percent of the water in the Great Lakes is replenished annually; the remaining volume of water is what was left after glaciers receded from the region over 10,000 years ago. Interest in diverting or exporting water from the Great Lakes Basin to other areas is not new, with proposals for out-of -basin diversions dating back to the 1950s. A 1998 permit, initially approved but then rescinded, to fill ships with Great Lakes water for bottling in Asia became the catalyst for creating an enforceable set of standards designed to better manage and protect both the quantity and quality of the Lake’s waters. Maintaining sustainable water levels is essential to ensure the continued existence of critical water dependent habitats, stability of Great Lakes economies, clean drinking water, and the integrity of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem.
Protecting the Great Lakes with the Great Lakes Compact
- Lake Michigan, Illinois Beach State Park
On December 13, 2005, the Governors of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New York, and the Premiers of Ontario and Quebec signed companion documents designed to provide unprecedented protections for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (”the Compact”) sets forth the provisions to be followed by the eight Great Lake states for protecting and managing Great Lakes water resources.
The Compact is an agreement made among the eight Great Lakes Governors for managing the water resources of the Great Lakes. The primary objectives of the Compact are to protect, conserve, improve and restore Great Lakes water resources as well as water dependent resources. The Compact identifies the Great Lakes Basin as a single hydrological unit and recognizes that Great Lakes waters support a variety of uses from recreation to commercial fishing to supporting wildlife.
Prairie Rivers Network will continue to provide Great Lake Compact Updates in our Great Lakes section of our website as consideration of the Compact approval moves through Congress. We will also let you know what you can do to support this final effort towards putting the necessary protections in place for ensuring Great Lakes water and water dependent resources are managed in a sustainable manner for people and wildlife.