Conservation Becoming A Priority In Great Lakes Region

It's no big secret: Saving water is good for the environment. And it helps the bottom line of businesses and households alike. For many in the world's arid climes, making every drop count is second nature. Now, conservation is slowly catching on around the Great Lakes, an aquatically blessed region where prevailing attitudes toward saving water have ranged from benign neglect to scorn. The lakes contain 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water and their drainage basin abounds with inland lakes, rivers, wetlands and subterranean aquifers. Even the region's environmentalist groups historically have focused more on water quality issues - chemical pollution, sewer overflows, exotic species - than water quantity. "It's off the radar screen for most people," said Bill Stough, CEO of Sustainable Research Group, the Grand Rapids consulting firm that advised Metalworks. "It's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security when you're living in the middle of the Great Lakes." But fear of water grabs by covetous outsiders and growing awareness of the lakes' ecological vulnerability are leading policy-makers, business leaders and activists to take conservation seriously. Conservation gets star billing in a water protection plan being developed by the eight states and two Canadian provinces adjacent to the lakes. The region's governors and premiers are scheduled to sign the plan Dec. 13 in Milwaukee. Commonly known as Annnex 2001, it would need ratification by their legislatures and Congress to take effect. Article's URL: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-12032005-579009.html

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