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Eco-logue is published bimonthly by the Rochester Regional Group of the Sierra Club * Join the Rochester Group by Printing out our Brochure & sending it to us.
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Global Water Issues Loom Over New York’s ‘North Coast’
Because of global warming, by the year 2050, between 700
million and 2.8 billion people in water-stressed regions of
the world will be affected by drought or unusable water.
This is why water is the “blue gold” of the 21st century.
Evidence is also piling But giant corporations like Suez and Bechtel aren’t so ignorant, since they have been designing ways to profit from shortages by privatization of water services. Used bottles from the explosion of bottled water sales are putting additional pressure on burgeoning landfills. (The Atlantic Chapter is again pushing for an extension to the New York state Bottle Bill, which corporate bottling companies are lobbying against.) Water shortages will severely affect global water
supplies in almost all areas except New York and the Great
Lakes states — but this in itself represents a unique
problem, because states as far away as Texas and even
countries as far away as China are already looking to the
Great Lakes as a tempting reservoir to make up for their
profligate ways. The future prosperity and environmental
The Atlantic Chapter has a number of conservation committees working on water-related concerns, but surprisingly we have no Great Lakes Committee. Our Global Warming Committee is addressing the big drought picture. Other water-related committees include Watersheds (dealing primarily with NYC’s water supply), Wetlands (natural purification and land protection), Clean Water (dealing with water pollution). These are important committees doing significant work. Now we need to create a Great Lakes Committee to deal with the future of the largest body of fresh water in the world.
Here’s a question for you. Can you identify New York’s second longest coastline? It’s New York’s North Coast, which includes the shores of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Lake Ontario, the Niagara River and Lake Erie, with a total length of more than 384 miles. The water areas involved are huge. Lake Ontario alone has a surface area of 7,340 square miles. Lake Erie, the smallest Great Lake, measures 241 miles end to end. The Great Lakes system makes up one of the greatest natural wonders of the world, as it holds 20% of all the world’s fresh water supply and contain 95% of the U.S. surface freshwater. The lakes also supply drinking water for more than 30 million people and contribute a multi-billion dollar economic value. But the environmental facts about the lakes are not so rosy, because they are more fragile than they seem and they face multiple threats from human activity. Recently, the EPA initiated a multi-state, collaborative effort to address Great Lakes problems through the creation of a comprehensive study to plan for cleanup. The Collaborative, as it is called, whose actions are being monitored by our Chapter, combines the efforts of federal, state, local and tribal resources to work on restoration and improvement. Specifically, the one-year study will come up with recommendations on how to address a multitude of problems, such as protection of habitat and restoration of native species, reduction of toxic substances, pollution prevention, invasive species problems, and sustainable development. It is expected that the Collaborative document will be used to move Congress in 2006 to approve restoration funding of up to $6 billion. New York stands to be awarded as much as $1.3 billion from the National Great Lakes Restoration bill now under consideration. Great Lakes not a solution to distant water needs The Great Lakes are already a tempting target for the rest of the world to satiate a thirst caused by arrogant and extravagant ways, but raiding the Great Lakes is a poor answer to the water needs of distant areas. The fact is, 99% of this tempting bucket is ancient, non-renewable water. The entire thousand miles of lakes only recharges at a rate of 1% a year, and this small recharge is often polluted from unwise human activities. Because of threats to ship Great Lakes water to distant areas, both the Canadian and U.S. Sierra Clubs are cooperating with efforts to strengthen legal water protections through a proposal called “Annex 2001,” an amendment to prior treaties and water control agreements. Now we need a Chapter committee to cooperate with the national Sierra Club’s efforts by focusing on the multiple threats to our North Coast. Why preservation? The Great Lakes need to be preserved not only because
they can serve the social and economic needs of neighboring
communities, but also because they are a significant part of
the ecology of Earth, which is valid for its own sake.
Following a purely anthropocentric approach to the Great
Lakes, considering only humankind and our own welfare, has
been the cause of many of the lakes’ current environmental
problems. Our central concern needs to be the future of
Earth, not the size of our If you are interested in joining an Atlantic Chapter
Great Lakes Committee, please contact me at
goshawk@frontiernet.net or call
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Conservation Action, by Hugh Mitchell,
Conservation Chair
