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July 1, 2005Great Lakes plan prohibits most diversionsPublic comment helped reshape itBY JOHN FLESHERThe Associated Press TRAVERSE CITY - A revised plan for protecting the Great Lakes carries a warning for thirsty regions dreaming of tapping into the nation's biggest supply of surface fresh water: Forget it. New or expanded diversions outside the drainage basin would be prohibited in most cases under a proposal released Thursday by the Council of Great Lakes Governors, which represents the eight states and two Canadian provinces adjacent to the lakes. The only diversions eligible for consideration would be to areas straddling the boundary of the basin, which sprawls more than 750 miles from the St. Lawrence River to beyond the western shore of Lake Superior. Meanwhile, the states and provinces would oversee large-scale water use within their own jurisdictions, based on standards that emphasize conservation. The plan is an update of a regulatory framework known as Annex 2001, a regionwide strategy for safeguarding the lakes as the growing worldwide water shortage makes them a tempting target. "One of the things we believe these agreements do is to send a clear message to other regions of the country that diversions of Great Lakes water ... is not the easy answer to their growing water problems," said Sam Speck, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. An initial version was released a year ago and has been altered in response to more than 10,000 public comments. Council staffers will accept comments for 60 days on the latest version and could make additional changes before submitting it to governors. Perhaps the most significant change from the 2004 version is the approach to out-of-basin diversions. The previous policy drew sharp criticism from some environmentalists and Canadian officials. It would have allowed new diversions - or expansions of existing ones - averaging 1 million gallons a day over 120 days if they met required criteria and were approved by all eight U.S. states. Supporters said the standards were so tough that few, if any, diversions would be permitted. But critics weren't convinced. The latest version would outlaw diversions but make exceptions for cities, towns and counties partly within the basin and partly outside it.
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