Great Lakes Water Wars
A new book on the Great Lakes and the future of water in America, and around the world.
The Great Lakes are the largest collection of fresh surface water on earth, and more than 40 million Americans and Canadians live in their basin. How that water is used by, or diverted from, those people is the story of The Great Lakes Water Wars.
These wars are coming. A controversial compact to manage the waters of the Great Lakes through this century will be considered by the eight state legislatures and US Congress in the years ahead. Will we divert water from the Great Lakes, causing them to end up like Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has lost 90 percent of its surface area and 75 percent of its volume since 1960? Or will we come to see that unregulated water withdrawals are ultimately catastrophic?
Peter Annin writes a fast-paced account of the people and stories behind these upcoming battles. Destined to be the definitive story for the general public as well as policymakers, The Great Lakes Water Wars is a balanced, comprehensive look behind the scenes at the conflicts and compromises that are the past - and future - of this unique resource.
September 10, 2006 8:08 AM | Category: Great Lakes, Water