Reply #2: A guaranteed disaster...

[The Doctor.]

Maybe not sooner, but certainly someday... this WILL be a disaster.

Local governments will be convinced that selling Great Lakes water will solve short - term deficits.

Here's the problem; Anytime a government body finds a new source of revenue - it's like a crack addict going to the next stage.
Once the money starts coming in - it will be spent years ahead of arrival. Then the problem starts all over.

Once the areas of the country begin recieving the water - there will be an economic boom there. They will be able to afford it, and will HAVE to have it for many years.

This kind of mutual parasitic dependency will mess with the ecosystem... period.

It will be years before we start to see the damage - but it will happen.

Humans have never been able to grasp the intricacies of nature's balance. The day we do will have come at the cost of many greivous errors.