The Great Lakes Water Wars [Hardcover]

Peter Annin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2006

The Great Lakes are the largest collection of fresh surface water on earth, and more than 40 million Americans and Canadians live in their basin. Will we divert water from the Great Lakes, causing them to end up like Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has lost 90 percent of its surface area and 75 percent of its volume since 1960? Or will we come to see that unregulated water withdrawals are ultimately catastrophic?



Peter Annin writes a fast-paced account of the people and stories behind these battles. Destined to be the definitive story for the general public as well as policymakers, The Great Lakes Water Wars is a balanced, comprehensive look behind the scenes at the conflicts and compromises that are the past-and future-of this globally significant resource.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fascinating and ambitious book . . . . Annin . . . breathes life into the subject of water laws and their related policy."

- Toledo Blade

(Tom Henry Toledo Blade 20061217)

"Well-written volume...offers an intriguing, comphrensive look...and should be a valuable reference for water and international policy makers, academics, and public officials . . . . Highly recommended."

- Choice

(Choice 20070401)

We are definitely leaving the century of oil behind, and we are entering the century of water. The value globally of fresh, potable water is expected to increase significantly. 

(Dispatch.com 20061106)

“Excellent primer for getting up to speed on what could be one of the region''s most important - and contentious - issues in the coming decades.”
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

(Dan Egan Milwaukee Journal Sentinel )

About the Author

Annin was a Newsweek correspondent for ten years, and now is Associate Director of Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (August 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559630876
• ISBN-13: 978-1559630870
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #636,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Water Supply & Land Use
  • #61 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Lakes & Ponds

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real fight begins, February 25, 2007

By 

Dirk J. Willard "Dirk Willard" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Lakes Water Wars (Hardcover)

On May 8, 1892, a gang of workmen hired by Chicago entrepreneur Mr. McElroy invaded the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin. This gang was intent on laying a pipeline from Waukesha's Hygeia Spring to a suburb of Chicago. They were turned back by the citizens of that city in one of the few (to date) physical confrontations over water east of the Mississippi river.
In 2006, with their wells dry or contaminated, Waukesha, which lies just outside the edge of the Great Lakes basin, insisted on exemption from the return clause of the water compact signed the year before. The compact was the latest evolution of agreements between the 8 Great Lakes states and 2 provinces of Canada. The latest agreement was so troubled that only two governors attended the signing. As with all the other agreements, it stood on bog of technical and legal details that could easily be upset by the smallest challenge. "Waukesha is a poster child," admits Dan Duchniak, the embattled head of the Waukesha Water Utility, adding that the debate over Waukesha is "almost like a cyst that has grown into a cancerous tumor, and we need to figure out a way to treat it." (pg. 245)

With this and other examples, such as an attempt to ship a tanker of Great Lakes water to China, the author explains the difficulties in protecting this great natural resource. The chapter on the Aral Sea foretells the future of the lakes if governments can't find a way to appease industry while maintaining the lakes for future generations.

Anyone trying understand what we, those of us blessed to grow up along their shores, must do to protect the Great Lakes should read this book. Although the material is fairly complex, the author presents several anecdotal stories that are readable.

As the author says, the fight has only just begun. Over the past 20 years, the states and provinces around the Great Lakes have produced a basic framework. Unfortunately, companies like Nestle have fought in court for the right to export bottle water from the Great Lakes basin; as one official asked,what is the difference between a tanker of bottle water and a tanker of water? --Damn good point! Although they are fighting a losing battle, other challenges are on the horizon in a world running short of clean, fresh water.

If this review was helpful, please vote and thanks.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars At War Over Great Lakes Water, November 29, 2006

By 

Barbara Spring "greatlakeswoman" (Grand Haven, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Lakes Water Wars (Hardcover)

Schemes to keep Great Lakes waters in the Great Lakes may look good on paper, but how they actually work or do not work is shown in The Great Lakes Water Wars. It is a practical book thoroughly researched by a veteran investigative reporter, Peter Annin and published by Island Press.

According to Annin, the key to keeping these freshwater lakes viable is to return the water to the lakes: that is to keep the waters in the Great Lakes watersheds and to take measures to conserve water. Diversions outside of these watersheds will deplete the lakes of water. Although the Great Lakes are large, they are fragile. Annin shows the consequences of unwise uses of water on other parts of the planet, for example the Aral Sea that has been depleted of most of its water.

This is an important book with words of caution for those who live in the Great Lakes watersheds.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Lakes aren't bottomless, May 24, 2007

By 

A. Kozak (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Lakes Water Wars (Hardcover)

As a former resident of northeastern Ohio, growing up near the shores of Lake Erie, I expected to be captivated by Peter Annin's treatise on the water resources issues of the Great Lakes, and it did not disappoint. But I think there's plenty here for anyone interested in the expanding issue of water resource diversion, as it spreads from the notoriously thirsty southwest to the Great Lakes, which house 20% of the world's fresh surface waters.

The five lakes in the Great Lakes surface water drainage basin seem inexhaustible and have, for centuries, been treated that way by neighboring states and provinces. Massive pollution identified in the 1960s raised the first indication of the Lakes' vulnerability. Annin tackles the issues of water resource allocation in three sections. The first sets the stage by talking about surface water resource challenges generally, from the difference between water rights assumptions in the eastern and western US, to the disastrous overuse of the Aral Sea in the former USSR, to the unknown problems that will result from global warming.

The second section uses stories to articulate the political and economic challenges surrounding six specific water diversion cases in the Great Lakes basin. The third explains the attempts by the eight states and two provinces within the Great Lakes basin to agree on political and legal mechanisms for protecting and preserving this enormous resource. His book ends with a cliffhanger; in late 2005, an historic regional agreement was signed by all the states and provinces in the basin but it must be codified into law by each state and US Congress. His website tracks its progress: [..]