common-sense against dogma. Issues such as agricultural and mine runoff into lakes


and waterways, discarded plastic packaging and the persistence of complex pharmaceutical compounds in municipal wastewater remain very serious and ever-growing problems. To this one must add the ques- tionable ability of many cash-starved municipalities around the Great Lakes to fund watercourse cleanups, pollution control plant upgrades and improved storm water management. Even those with money are often reluctant to invest it in things largely invisible to a largely apathetic general public. A new sports centre has more ribbon-cutting appeal.


In the Province of Ontario, alone, the backlog of


needed repairs and upgrades to pollution control plants was estimated at C$18bn by Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner several years back. Extrapolating this to neighboring U.S. states indicates the sheer enormity of the problem.


Preservation or plunder The current Great Lakes water bounty could also


be its curse. It has been named “the Saudi Arabia of water” on several occasions suggesting its potential for abstraction and sale as a commodity. The city of Waukesha WI wants to pump water from Lake Michi-


Photo: Bobby Mikul www.publicdomainpictures.net 20


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