When the Great Lakes Compact was signed into law in late 2008, it effectively ended the chances of any communities outside the Great Lakes Basin receiving permission to withdraw additional water from the lakes. Any community seeking to withdraw water from one of the lakes – let's say, Phoenix or Las Vegas, or even Beijing – would have to receive permission from eight states and two Canadian provinces ... which seems unlikely.
However, the Compact is already being put to the test. As noted in this recent Wall Street Journal article, Waukesha, Wis., is planning to apply for just such a diversion. Waukesha is proposing to build pipes to, and buy water from, Milwaukee, and then return treated water to Lake Michigan by means of a creek. As documented in the article, the need is real – the city's groundwater supplies are dwindling, despite rigorous and proactive conservation and efficiency measures. Every indication is that Waukesha would be a good steward of Lake Michigan water. With that said, getting the needed permissions will be an immense hurdle and a test of will for the Compact members. This is a story I plan to watch closely.
Illinois, as always when it comes to the Great Lakes, is a notable exception to this aspect of the Compact. Every other city, state, province and tribe that withdraw water from the lakes eventually put it back (hence that aspect of Waukesha's plan). Illinois is held to a different standard. By law, we are allowed to divert 3,200 cubic feet per second from Lake Michigan. A portion of the water we divert (approx. 60 percent in 2005, the most recent accounting year) is then allocated to communities through a process managed by the Ill. Dept. of Natural Resources. So a community like Aurora, which is having initial conversations about accessing Lake Michigan water in order to move off of dwindling deep aquifer supplies, would need to talk to IDNR, not Ohio, Quebec or our other Great Lakes neighbors. As I understand it, only if Illinois itself felt it needed more than 3,200 cfs would it need to take that route. While I suppose it's possible, it seems highly unlikely that Illinois would get the support it would need to divert more water.
Hopefully, it'll never come to that. In 2005, we used 85 percent of our allowable diversion, so we have some ability to withdraw more water ... but as the region's population grows and as additional communities move onto our diversion, there will be less and less room to manuever in. The forthcoming regional water supply plan should put us on the right track, but as important as that body is, it shouldn't be the only conversation in our region on these issues. Talk to your neighbors about rain barrels, talk to your water utility about advanced meters, talk to your mayor about stormwater ordinances. To ensure that 3,200 cfs is enough for the long-term, we all need to start working now.