Can the US take water from the Great Lakes?

The Great Lakes Compact — signed into law in 2008 by President George W. Bush — largely prohibits taking large quantities of water from the Great Lakes and basin's groundwater, smaller lakes, and rivers without the approval of all eight states and the input of Ontario and Quebec, which are both in the watershed.



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How it could work: With 20% of the available surface fresh water in the world, the Great Lakes are essentially massive reservoirs that could quench the thirst of states like Arizona and California.

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four of the Great Lakes are international waters and are defined as boundary waters in the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 between the United States and Canada, and as such any new diversion of Great Lakes water in the United States would affect the relations of the Government of the United States with the Government of ...

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10% of the entire planet's fresh water are contained in one inland sea. The amount of snow that gets melted and runs into the Great Lakes each year is so vast, that there is zero chance of running low. Droughts don't exist up there. Here in Perth Western Australia we have a dam, little rain and treated water.

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The net volume loss in natural lakes is largely attributable to climate warming, increasing evaporative demand, and human water consumption, whereas sedimentation dominates storage losses in reservoirs.

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