The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact is a legally binding
interstate compact
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
among the U.S. states of
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
,
New York,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. The compact details how the states manage the use of the
Great Lakes Basin
The Great Lakes Basin consists of the Great Lakes and the surrounding lands of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada, whose dir ...
's water supply and builds on the 1985
Great Lakes Charter
The Great Lakes Charter is a good-faith agreement among the governors of the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and the premiers of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The c ...
and its 2001 Annex. The compact is the means by which the states implement the governors' commitments under the
Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement that also includes the Premiers of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
and
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
.
The Council of Great Lakes Governors, which guided the negotiations that resulted in the Compact, now serves as secretariat to the Governors' Compact Council created by the Compact, and now operates as the
.
Ratification
Following approval by each of the eight member state legislatures, the compact was signed by Minnesota Gov.
Tim Pawlenty
Timothy James Pawlenty (; born November 27, 1960) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 39th governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House o ...
on February 20, 2007; Illinois Gov.
Rod Blagojevich on August 17, 2007; Indiana Gov.
Mitch Daniels
Mitchell Elias Daniels Jr. (born April 7, 1949) is an American academic administrator, businessman, author, and retired politician. A Republican, Daniels served as the 49th governor of Indiana from 2005 to 2013. Since 2013, Daniels has been pr ...
on February 20, 2008; New York Gov.
Eliot Spitzer on March 4, 2008; Wisconsin Gov.
Jim Doyle
James Edward Doyle, Jr., (born November 23, 1945) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Wisconsin, serving from January 6, 2003 to January 3, 2011. In his first election to the governorship, he defeated incum ...
on May 27, 2008; Ohio Gov.
Ted Strickland
Theodore Strickland (born August 4, 1941) is an American politician who was the 68th governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ...
on June 27, 2008; Pennsylvania Gov.
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philad ...
on July 4, 2008; and Michigan Gov.
Jennifer Granholm
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Canadian-American lawyer, educator, author, political commentator, and politician serving as the 16th United States secretary of energy since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she pre ...
on July 9, 2008. The
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
passed the compact on August 1, 2008, and the
U.S. House of Representatives followed on September 23, 2008. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
signed it on October 3, 2008. The compact became state and federal law on December 8, 2008.
''Wisconsin v. Illinois'' United States Supreme Court case
Due to the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruling in ''
Wisconsin v. Illinois'', the State of Illinois is not subject to certain provisions of the compact pertaining to new or increased withdrawals or diversions from the Great Lakes.
Waukesha Proposal
In 2013, the city of
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha ( ) is the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its population was 71,158 at the 2020 census. The city is adjacent to the Village of Waukesha.
History
The area tha ...
applied for permission from the State of Wisconsin to withdraw water from Lake Michigan. City water historically drawn from an aquifer reached radium levels exceeding federal standards. After protest and later negotiation with state officials, Waukesha became obligated to find a new source of water by 2018. The city's limits lay 1.5 miles outside of the Lake Michigan drainage boundary; however the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in which it resides straddles both the Mississippi (via the
Fox River, which runs through Waukesha) and Great Lakes watersheds.
In 2015, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) preliminarily determined that the proposal was approvable in its Draft Technical Review and also released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The public comment period on the Draft Technical Review and Draft Environmental Impact Statement ended on August 28, 2015.
On January 7, 2016, the DNR forwarded the submission to the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Water Resources Regional Body for review and the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Water Resources Council for review and decision. Several environmental groups argued the proposal did not comply with Compact requirements and demanded a thorough review. The application was approved with conditions by the Compact Council on June 21, 2016.
See also
*
Canada–United States border
*
Canada–United States relations
References
External links
Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources CouncilGreat Lakes–St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body*Navigating Wisconsin's Obligations Under the Public Trust Doctrin
{{Authority control
Great Lakes
United States interstate compacts
Acts of the 110th United States Congress
Water law in the United States