Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
WATER TALES
You be the judge in a battle that pits the city of Detroit,
Michigan, and its Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
against the Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Environment. In
December 2008, the latter accused Detroit of “stealing” hun-
dreds of billions of gallons of “Canadian” water over the last
44 years. It seems that a major intake into the Detroit River
for Detroit's water supply is about 100 yards over the Canadian side
of the border. Ontario wants part of its water put back, plus other
restrictions and controls. In March 2009, Ontario granted the city of
Detroit an exemption to “take” the water, with a cap on the amount.
Joseph Dellapenna, the Philadelphia-based water law expert and
professor of law, offers this opinion on the scenario:
Ontario is saying that every drop of water those eastern
Michigan communities have been consuming since Day One is
stolen Canadian water and it wants to be compensated. That
supposes that water stays put the way land more or less does.
If I build my driveway and it's two feet across the property
boundary line, that's clearly on your property and it's clearly
taking your property. But if I put my pipe into the creek and it
ends up somehow on your side of the boundary line, whose
water am I taking? Even if I'm taking your water, some of my
water is going to fl ow over to replace your water.
To say all that water is stolen Canadian water is utter non-
sense. That completely ignores the reality of hydrology. But
it's the way most people think because most people haven't
thought seriously about water and the nature of water,
about its being inherently a shared resource, and what that
tells us about water law, water rights, water duties, and more.
Looking at it another way, this claim would make sense
only if taking water was like digging sand out of a sand pit—
the sand comes from a pit, and a hole remains. We know, of
course, that water will fl ow in to fi ll the “hole,” so that some of
the water coming into the Detroit [River] (regardless of which
side of the border) comes from Michigan and some from
