By Scott Gordon/WisContext
Two centuries of urbanization and industrialization around the Great Lakes have often hinged on tension among those who’ve desired their extraordinary supplies of fresh water.
The lakes and the surrounding watershed contain nearly one-fifth of the surface freshwater on Earth, and currently about 40 million people in the United States and Canada use their waters.
The eight Great Lakes states – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec collectively form a $4.7 trillion economy, the fourth-largest in the world. It’s no wonder that people across North America and around the globe want in on that water.
Posted on April 24, 2018