One of the so far inexplicable features of the proposed Great Lakes Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement (on which you can comment until August 30) is an exemption from its proposed no-diversion policy for "a proposal to withdraw water and package it in the Basin for human consumption in containers 5.7 gallons (20 litres) or less" (#9, top of page 11) in the document linked below:
It's important to remember that the 7 years of work that went into this agreement began when, in 1998, an Ontario company won permission (later rescinded) to remove up to 50 tankers per year of water from Lake Superior for shipment to Asia. The public outcry against this was so huge that the Great Lakes governors and premiers agreed to build stronger defenses against Great Lakes water exports.
Here's an example of the coverage then:
http://www.gue.com/news/glexport.html
What this agreement would do, apparently, is allow another Nova Group proposal. This time, the company couldn't ship the water out in tankers per se; it would have to figure out a way to put the water in bottles within the Great Lakes Basin, then load it onto the 50 tankers each year. Or trucks, or trains.
This make sense only if the bottled water industry is co-author of that provision of the Agreement.
The loophole needs to be closed.
Posted by Dave at August 6, 2005 02:01 PM