Compact would make it all but impossible to divert water from Great Lakes

The Detroit Free press is reporting on the progress of the new Great Lakes Charter:

It would be nearly impossible to divert large amounts of water from the Great Lakes to other areas of the country under provisions of a sweeping interstate compact and international agreement aimed at protecting and improving the water system.

The compact would require the eight Great Lakes governors, in consultation with the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, to unanimously approve any new diversion that would take outside the basin an average 1 million gallons a day over a 120-day period.

Monday's release of the Great Lakes Compact starts the clock on a 90-day public comment period. The Council of Great Lakes Governors will hold public hearings on the proposal on Sept. 8 in Chicago and on Sept. 20 in Toronto.

To become law, the compact must be approved by Congress and the legislatures in each of the Great Lakes states, which means it could be another a few years before the compact becomes law.

Michigan is the only state in the region that has not enacted laws to regulate large withdrawals although it was among the states that signed the Great Lakes Charter in 1985.