Dave Dempsey is one of the Great Lakes most credible, prolific writers and activists, and he thinks the Wisconsin DNR is treading on thin ice if it thinks it can approve a diversion of Lake Michigan water to New Berlin without the approval of all eight Great Lakes states.

As others, including then-Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlater have pointed out, it's a matter of federal law.

Details here.

The State of Michigan's pioneering regulations to keep invasive species out of the Great Lakes has been ruled legal.

Now is the time for Wisconsin to do the same.

Details here.

Want to help stop the diversion of Great Lakes water? Want to make sure communities improve their water conservation?

An International agreement with Canada is undergoing review and the public comment period ends June 8th.

I had posted the other day about the urgency surrounding public comment on the Great Lakes Compact's conservation standard-setting.

     Here is a nice, direct link to join the debate.

     Or go here for an email address - - comments [at] cglg [dot] org

     Just do it before June 8th.

Arizona, Running Out Of Water, Moving Towards Growth Limits

First it was Florida, where fresh water is drying up.

Now Arizona.

Here are the key paragraphs from that AP story:

"PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers voted Thursday to expand the state's growth management efforts, approving a bipartisan bill to empower counties and cities to place new restrictions on rural development without adequate water supplies.

The House's 50-1 vote completed legislative action on the bill, which now goes to Gov. Janet Napolitano, a supporter.

The Senate approved the bill on March 8 on a 26-2 vote.

Legislative approval of the measure came a quarter-century after the 1980 enactment of a historic groundwater management law imposing new pumping and irrigation restrictions in "active management areas." Those areas include Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott.

Those urban-oriented restrictions were aimed at curbing groundwater depletion that outpaced natural replacement.

It's been almost five months since then-Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager issued a 20-page opinion on how and when certain Wisconsin communities could apply for permission to divert water from Lake Michigan.

 The ruling barred bureaucrats in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources from administratively approving such a diversion request, and also said efforts in 2006 by the City of Waukesha to ask Gov. Jim Doyle for permission without getting the unanimous consent of the other seven Great Lakes states were also out of bounds.

 You'd think, as hot as this issue is in southeastern Wisconsin, and across the Great Lakes where the first regional test cases for new diversion efforts are brewing, that the AG opinion would be big news.

Nope. Hasn't been reported on in the traditional media, but you can read about it, access the full document and see a Wisconsin law firm's analysis here.