Here’s what a United Nations report said three years ago: “At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Earth is facing a serious water crisis. All the signs suggest that it is getting worse, and will continue to do so unless corrective action is taken.”
That’s true enough, but don’t hold your breath until things get better. There are still people in Michigan who think that the one thing we will never have to worry about is fresh water. They should all read Peter Annin’s new book, The Great Lakes Water Wars, and see his pictures of the Aral Sea, in what used to be Soviet Central Asia. In the 1960s, it was almost as large as Lake Superior.
Now it is nearly all gone. Ninety percent of the water has disappeared. You can stand on a dry sea bed that was under forty-five feet of water not all that long ago. For miles there is nothing, except the hulks of rusting fishing boats.
This was once a thriving ecosystem, and a center of the Soviet fishing industry. It is all dead now. What water remains is so salty that almost nothing can live in it. Soviet planners diverted the rivers that kept the Aral Sea replenished with fresh water, so they could irrigate new lands in the desert.
Within a few years, the sea began to die.
You may think it couldn’t happen here. Well, think again. We live in a world where two-thirds of the world’s population soon will be facing water shortages. We live in a nation where virtually all the population growth is where water is in increasingly short supply.
Forty years ago, when the water sparkled and fish played in the Aral Sea, Michigan and Ohio had a total of 47 congressmen. Water-strapped Texas and Arizona had a mere 31. Today, they have 44, and we have only 37.
And we lose political clout, and the water-needy states gain, with every census. Someday a thirsty nation may look to the Great Lakes as their last desperate hope.
And what do we do then? How do we protect the Lakes from greed and pollution and corrupt or foolish politicians, whose idea of the long view ends with their next election?
We could start with the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact, signed last year by all eight states which border the lakes. This agreement prevents most new water diversions, and requires every state to have a water conservation plan. Ontario and Quebec have signed a companion agreement. But for the Compact to have any clout, the legislatures of all eight states have to ratify it.
Not one has yet done so.
We don’t have forever. I do not want to someday drive across the Superior Mud Flats to gaze at the ruins of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Besides, if that happens, we’ll probably all be dead anyway. And if you don’t believe that could ever happen, get Peter Annin’s book. And look hard at what used to be the Aral Sea.
Amen. The economy of the Great Lakes region depends on our freshwater resources. It's key to industry that requires plentiful fresh water for use in manufacturing processes, to the tourism industry that's based on water, and to the quality of life that is a key reason workers choose to locate here.
Long after the automobile industry has evolved into something different and hopefully more sustainable, the Great Lakes and its water will still be driving our economy.
One question: After months of campaigning and two hours of debates, why is the region's fresh water still a back-burner issue for our gubernatorial candidates? From ever-expanding operations to bottle and sell groundwater, to the invasive species that have put the lakes at the brink of biological chaos, to the Great Lakes Compact, there is no shortage of critical freshwater issues. It may well take a disaster to get voters to demand that candidates address water issues with the vigor they demand answers to other topics. Sigh.
Posted by: Hugh McDiarmid Jr. | October 12, 2006 at 12:20 AM
That's an excellent question, Hugh. I can't understand how anyone could love Michigan and not be passionately committed to protecting the Great Lakes. It would seem that if DeVos were looking to count coup or if Granholm were looking to appeal to outdoorsy folks, this would be great issue.
Water is an issue on unimaginable importance and we are going to have to allocate a lot of time and money on the state, federal and world level to figure out how to protect it everywhere rather than just draining and fouling watering hole after watering hole. I'll sigh too.
If you click my name below, there's a link to a nice article by John Flesher on our Absolute Michigan site. Thanks (as always) for addressing important issues Jack - I know it has to get tiring.
Posted by: Andy McFarlane | October 13, 2006 at 04:30 PM