U.S. Great Lakes water deal in jeopardy

CHICAGO, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A multistate compact that spells out who can use the water from the Great Lakes is in jeopardy as states and Canadian provinces shy away from the agreement.

Supporters of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact tried to get the process going again Monday, but unless the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces ratify the compact, it's all but dead, The Chicago Tribune said Tuesday.

It took the governors of the Great Lakes states four years just to write the agreement and, even then, state lawmakers had to back the plan, but Wisconsin and Ohio last week said they weren't so sure of things because it gives others the right to say how they use their own water.

Some advocates worry this sort of wrangling could put matters into federal hands, leaving the states out of the decision altogether.

Besides water rights, the compact focuses on the near-record low water levels in the area as western and southern U.S. states look around for new sources of fresh water.

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., told a group of advocates at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium poor water management has all but drained Uzbekistan's Aral Sea since 1973.

"This is a fate that we cannot allow for the Great Lakes," he said.