Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.2
Numerical information about the Great Lakes
Lake
Ontario
Lake
Erie
Lake
Huron
Lake
Michigan
Lake
Superior
Surface area (sq. miles)
7,540
9,940
23,010
22,400
31,820
Water volume (cu. mil.)
393
116
849
1,180
2,900
Elevation (feet)
246
571
577
577
609
Average depth (feet)
283
62
195
279
483
the area want to keep it that way. In October 2008 their desires were
codifi ed when President George W. Bush signed the Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence River Basin Water Compact that had previously been approved
by the eight states bordering the lakes and the adjacent Canadian prov-
inces. Ken Kilbert, director of the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes,
stated that the document was “the best legal step so far to protect the
most important resource in our area from diminishment.”
8
Water withdrawals from the Great Lakes total 43 million gallons per
day, with almost two-thirds withdrawn on the U.S. side. Nearly all of
the water is returned to the basin through runoff and discharge. Only 5
percent is made unavailable by evapotranspiration or incorporation into
manufactured products.
9
Considering that the water volume in the fi ve
lakes totals 5,438 cubic miles and climate change is forecast to increase
precipitation in the area of the Great Lakes, there is not a looming
problem with water supply for those with access.
The compact protects against most new or increased diversions of
water outside the Great Lakes Basin. Diversions refer to the transfer of
water from the Great Lakes to areas outside the Great Lakes watershed.
The compact also promotes conservation and effi ciency programs that
enforce better use of water within the basin, 72 percent of which is used
in power plants and is recycled. Public water systems use 13 percent,
industry consumes 10 percent, and other uses total 5 percent.
10
Many politicians believe they see water wars on the horizon, and there
is no way for the Great Lakes states to prevent the federal government
from taking the water if it wants to do so. Probably the Great Lakes
Compact will not be the fi nal word on distribution of the water in the
lakes. The balance of political power in Washington has been tilting
south and west for decades, and agricultural interests in the nation's
midwestern breadbasket will increasingly covet the water in the lakes as
water levels in the Ogallala aquifer they depend on continue to drop.
