A Food and Water Watch media release from yesterday states, “This week, Representative Bart Stupak (Democrat-Michigan) introduced House Resolution 551 addressing loopholes in the Great Lakes Compact that allow for the commercial extraction of water from the lakes as long as it is placed in containers 5.7 gallons or smaller.”
Food & Water Watch commends Representative Stupak for this effort to prevent the commercialization of this vital natural resource and urges Congress to adopt this resolution.”
“In addition to allowing the packaging and sale of Great Lakes water as a ‘product’ it also exempts bottled water, thereby leaving the door open to potential privatization attempts of the Great Lakes.”
“Representative Stupak’s Resolution clarifies that, in the language of the Compact, water is to be understood as a public trust, not a commodity. Importantly, H. Res. 551 states that water is not to be defined as a ‘product’ and is not exempt from the protections laid out in the Compact last fall.”
The Council of Canadians is supporting our allies in the United States who are calling for an amendment to the Compact to incorporate the public trust doctrine as a standard for protection, and to eliminate the bottled water exception.
You can read more about our concerns with the Great Lakes Compact at http://canadians.org/water/issues/Great_Lakes/index.html.
The Food and Water Watch media release is at http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/press/releases/food-water-watch-applauds-effort-to-close-loopholes-in-great-lakes-compact20090619/.
To read an update on the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, go to the campaign blog ‘Canada-US water pact to be renegotiated’ at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=769.
