As droughts and wildfires continue to plague the American Southwest, many states are now eyeing the Great Lakes as a potential source of fresh water.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has suggested that some water from the Great Lakes should be piped to his state. “States like Wisconsin are awash in water,” Richardson said recently.

Yet many Great Lakes states are also having problems. Water levels in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan are an historic lows, threatening shipping and other economic activity. And it is not just southwestern states that want a share of the water. Cities such as Waukesha, Wisconsin, and other communities lying just outside of the Lake Michigan water basin, would also like to begin draining water from the lake.

Well-published efforts are now underway to keep the distribution of the water limited to the Great Lakes basin. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact was formed recently in an effort to protect the Great Lakes ecosystem and to set restrictions on the distribution of lake water.

The compact would restrict the draining of Great Lakes water. Eight Great Lakes states and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec have ratified the compact, which would set strict limits on how and when lake water could be diverted.

Wisconsin is the only Great Lakes state that has yet to pass the compact. Environmental groups and local leaders from around Wisconsin met recently to urge state legislators to act quickly and ratify the Great Lakes Compact.

“We have something that other people want,” said Green Bay Mayor, Jim Schmitt. “This is one of those issues that we’ll look back at 20 or 30 years from now and say we did the right thing.”

[Sources: The Capital Times; Associated Press]