Protecting Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes

Those of us along the Great Lakes have the responsibility to protect this most valued asset. We can't take for granted the water that gives us and our environment life.

While most people do not believe we can ever lose Lake Michigan, think again...........! Look at what happened to the Aral Sea, the 4th largest fresh water body in the world. Check out this website at http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/15/worlds-4th-largest-lake-almost-gone/ and this website at http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uzbekistan_1297.html .

We must be strong stewards of our lake and stand back with a macro view of this situation. Lake County Water Resource Planning is in full swing designed to take additional water out of Lake Michigan and pipe it to western communities, way out of the natural watershed. Where does it stop? Is this a watershed possession, a County possession, a State possession, a National possession, or a World possession. A sustainable water method that has been discussed is to bring back all the water taken out of the watershed........ but this is very very expensive.

All of the Great Lake States have just signed a regional compact that has virtually limited the use of Great Lakes water to within the natural watershed. The natural watershed for Lake Michigan in Illinois is approximately the 294 tollway if you count in the Chicago River area as the historic watershed (this has been changed since river flow was reversed toward the Mississippi). Illinois was exempt from this provision and limited to a court decision that was restricted by a court ordered quantity rather than a watershed boundary in the recently signed compact.

We must all take a hard look at this situation and follow the spirit of the compact in limiting the use of the Great Lakes water. We must have a methodology that is fair and accepted as a sustainable practice for us to be secure about the future of our water and lives.