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DCEC Scopes Out Possible Great Lakes Water
Wars!
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Chicago Activist from Alliance for the Great Lakes to Address Annual Summer Program on August 15th
The Door County Environmental Council's (DCEC) Annual Summer Program will feature Frances Canonizado, a presenter from the Alliance for the Great Lakes in Chicago. She will be giving the keynote address "Are Water Wars for the Great Lakes Possible?" This program will be on Wednesday, August 15th, at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall at 7:00 P.M. There is no admission charge and refreshments will be served after the program.
Water diversions from the Great Lakes have been proposed numerous times over the past 100 years, with only one, the Chicago River diversion, being successfully completed. Other proposals to divert water out of the Great Lakes watershed, such as one from Waukesha, Wisconsin, and most recently Birmingham, Alabama are expected to continue as the world's climate warms and existing water supplies diminish in the other parts of the country.
Canonizado's slide show will focus on possible future threats to the largest concentration of fresh water in the world and why those threats must be taken seriously.
DCEC executive director, Jerry Viste, explains his concerns. "Over-diversion of water basins in other parts of the world has proven disastrous. In Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea, whose feeder rivers were diverted by the then Soviet Union for agricultural purposes, has virtually dried up. There are decaying hulls of boats literally 30 miles from the nearest shoreline... resting on dried up seabed that was once covered by 30 feet of water.
"The impact was devastating. A commercial fishery of 44,000 annual tons has disappeared. An important source of food for thousands of people is now gone. There are hundreds of pictures you can look at by searching for 'Aral Sea' at google.com on the web. It's very dramatic to see the devastation," continued Viste.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes is a watchdog organization carefully monitoring the Compact for the Great Lakes, an agreement between eight US states and three Canadian provinces boarding the lakes to maintain the water security of the Great Lakes Basin. The agreement is in the process of ratification by the eight US states, and will have to go to the US Congress to be finally formalized.
In the meantime, DCEC hopes to raise citizen awareness of and involvement in solving the problems state ratification still faces here in Wisconsin with programs like Canonizado's.
These free programs are open to the public. All are welcome. Questions and answers will Canonizado's presentation.
Persons wishing further information about DCEC programs, informational bulletins, studies or brochures can contact Viste at dcec@itol.com or at the DCEC office, (920) 743-6003.
DCEC is a 36 year-old, 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation, working for the preservation of Door County's natural resources for today and for the generations to come.
Door County Environmental Council
P O Box 114,
Fish Creek WI 54212
Phone: 920-743-6003 | FAX: 920-743-6727
Info@dcec-wi.org
