What do you think would happen if somebody wanted to pipe water from the Great Lakes

[raccoon]

to Las Vegas (or some other place that wasn't in one of the The Great Lakes Basin Compact

states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin)?

[DCKit]

1. The Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces forged an agreement...

several years ago prohibiting that.

[Brickbat]

2. Many corporations want to, which is why the states and provinces have made several agreements

protecting that water. It's an ongoing battle, though.

[raccoon]

3. I'm sure it is. nt

[Atman]

4. PRIVATIZE THE LAKES!

Sell the water for maximum profit. Coca Cola and Pepsi should be able to market the water as "HURON"...though "ERIE" might not do well with focus groups.

Only part sarcastic...this is going to happen, folks. That is too much fresh water just sitting there. Water is the new oil. The new gold. I guarantee some douche bag Republican money-scammer already is working on plans. They're just waiting for the right people to get so desperate that privatizing Great Lakes water distribution will seem like a good thing. As long as enough people make enough money from it.

.

[raccoon]

6. I have a suggestion for the Great Lakes states and provinces in that event:

Secede.

But I agree, some sleaze bags will be after that water.

[trotsky]

10. I share your fears and suspicions.

I agree that someone has already figured out how this will work. I mean, it's just like oil, right? You go get it where it is and then distribute it where it's wanted.

But it's even better than oil because people have no choice - they NEED water. Captive market who will have no choice but to pay whatever you want to charge them.

Scary.

[Evasporque]

5. There are some exceptions....

Waukesha is a town just over the divide 18 miles from lake Michigan...due to a long history of open pit rock quarries in an around Waukesha, the well water used for the city is contaminated with Radium.

I believe an exceptions was granted for communities within x number of miles who have no other source of contaminant free water.

The key is that the treated water will be returned back over the divide and to the lake. It is expensive (so expensive I think Waukesha Republican voters decided not to pay for it...)

[link:http://www.wuwm.com/news/wuwm_news.php?articleid=6015|

[Trillo]

11. An interesting example of cost shifting and corporate welfare!

Open pit rock quarries spoiled the subterranean water, so the water supplied to the communities is now much more expensive than it was.

One would think it reasonable that if some companies spoiled subterranean water in an area, those companies would be required to supply clean water to the communities at the prices the community paid before the water was spoiled. It appears that prior cost to the community was the one time cost of drilling a well. But if your excerpt is true and correct, government failed to protect the communities from water-cost increases.

The companies doing the natural gas fracking are also spoiling subterranean water, now, if we are to believe what we read. Can we presume that costs for clean water are going to go up for people in the affected communities? Can government offer any real solutions to the people who used water from wells prior to the fracking, and somehow hedge those communities against any consumer-level price increases for however long it takes nature to clean up the fracking contaminants?

[lacrew]

7. I don't know about the Great Lakes

But Indian tribes in the Dakotas have rights to much more water than they will ever need....and some envision a time in the future, where this water is piped to the southwest.

[Swede]

8. I've heard of plans of tapping into the rivers in BC before they flow into the Pacific.

Not sure what to make of that.

[IDemo]

9. Years ago, a Los Angeles city or county official (forget) announced plans

to pipe water from the Snake River to the LA basin. His plan was summarily flushed.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

12. "What do you think would happen"

I think the one per-centers would build moe swimming pools and golf courses!