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HereSince1628

(36,063 posts)
6. That may only be available after a military action with Canada...
Wed Mar 18, 2015, 07:33 AM
Mar 2015

The Great Lakes incredibly valuable water resources are governed by a joint commission of state, provincial and national governments. The members of the governing body have long understood how very precious these bodies of water are to human survival and economics.

Extraction of water out of the watershed is prohibited without consent of the international commission. And the philosophy on extraction has been that water removed must be replaced with equal amounts of water of suitable quality. At minimum, the expensive project to move water to the west would require equally expensive projects to replace that water.

A map of the watershed is provided below. You'll notice that in SE WI and NE IL the watershed doesn't go very far inland in places it's less than 5 miles from the lake...

...this has already caused water utilities difficulties in cities and suburbs that span the divide of the watershed. Much of the ground water sufficient for municipal supply in SE Wisconsin contains radioactive contaminants above safe levels for drinking. Radioactive contamination above safe levels is not a problem with the water in Lake Michigan. There have been decades long struggles to get approval for diluting ground water with lake water to achieve safe standards for drinking for communities just 5-10 miles from the watershed.

The domestic and international legal difficulties in getting approval to move water a thousand or more miles to the west would be more than substantial. It's hard to see how it could be done short of international conflict.

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Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

What happens to the North East when carbon burning for power ceases to be a viable option shortly FargoGuy Mar 2015 #1
Probably the dumbest response I've ever seen on DU. Atman Mar 2015 #3
Don't sell yourself short FargoGuy Mar 2015 #17
I'll see your 11 and raise you 28,490. Atman Mar 2015 #19
nuclear power is fine dolphinsandtuna Mar 2015 #21
drain the great lakes aikoaiko Mar 2015 #2
That may only be available after a military action with Canada... HereSince1628 Mar 2015 #6
And that international conflict would include all the states around the area being on the side of jwirr Mar 2015 #12
The same conflict occurs in proposals to import water from British Columbia... hunter Mar 2015 #13
I think I saw those in my father's old 1950's Popular Science mags... HereSince1628 Mar 2015 #24
NO jwirr Mar 2015 #10
we used lake water at the cottage for years. was actually better than the iron infused water pansypoo53219 Mar 2015 #4
We used lake water in NH. Atman Mar 2015 #8
Most lakes that are surrounded by houses have sewage running into the lake. The fish are having jwirr Mar 2015 #11
That's why we filter all of our water. Atman Mar 2015 #15
When I worked in public health, I got assigned tracking down an infant death HereSince1628 Mar 2015 #25
I think most of the people out here are afraid of what is happening to our lake. Afraid enough to jwirr Mar 2015 #26
Listeria is known to occur in ~40 species of mammals and ~20 species of birds HereSince1628 Mar 2015 #28
Okay. I am glad that we are doing something about this lake (watershed) area. Hopefully the feds jwirr Mar 2015 #29
I'm sure I've mentioned plenty of times pipi_k Mar 2015 #14
Out here we all have water softeners to keep the rust out. How do you use the white vinegar spray? jwirr Mar 2015 #27
I don't know what they're going to LuvNewcastle Mar 2015 #5
It's puzzling to me the situation out west is getting zero coverage on the "news" channels. Vinca Mar 2015 #7
+1000 Atman Mar 2015 #20
Not really high-speed trains. That's the ticket. cherokeeprogressive Mar 2015 #9
The answer is the same as it always has been. bluedigger Mar 2015 #16
I'm so disgusted with that company I can't see straight ismnotwasm Mar 2015 #18
We traveled to the other side of the planet...Nestle owned everything. Atman Mar 2015 #22
About to be? KamaAina Mar 2015 #23
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