Our Great Lakes hold twenty-one percent of all the world’s fresh surface water. Wisconsin has over 1,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline. More than half our population lies within its watershed. The Lakes provide us with many opportunities for recreation, commerce, transportation, and immeasurable occasions to enjoy their immense beauty.

On 5/25 Midwest Environmental Advocates filed a suit to challenge the recent DNR approval of diverting water from Lake Michigan to suppy the upcomfing Foxconn project.  The gist of the suit is that the DNR mis-interpreted the provision in the Great Lakes Compact allowing water diversions. The compoact requires that water diversions be made for public water supply purposes. Racine had argued that since the city primarily uses residential water that the diversion was appilcable.

If it is possible to be a fan of Waukesha's plan to tap Lake Michigan for drinking water, John Skalbeck is among their ranks. A professor of geosciences at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Skalbeck specializes in hydrogeology, a field of study chiefly concerned with groundwater.

Community members and advocacy groups opposing the bid by Foxconn and the city of Racine for Lake Michigan water are zeroing on a specific issue: The request amounts to a water utility sourcing the Great Lakes almost entirely for the use of one private company.

At the turn of the century, a Canadian company named Nova Group sparked outrage across the Great Lakes region when it proposed to withdraw millions of gallons water from Lake Superior water and sell it in Asia. In the short term, this led Canada to crack down on freshwater exports.