Documentary Hits Water Use Battles Along Great Lakes

By Dave Rosenthal

Our colleagues at Great Lakes Now have released a  half-hour documentary that examines some of the hottest water use issues in the region.

It looks at the controversy involving Nestle, which withdraws millions of gallons of water near Lake Michigan and resells it. Some residents near the Michigan bottling plant worry about their water source being depleted -- not to mention all the plastic bottles being produced.

The documentary also highlights the town of Waukesha, Wisc. It sits outside the Great Lakes watershed, but was granted permission to draw drinking water from Lake Michigan.  A similar debate surrounds a giant electronics factory planned in another part of Wisconsin, so that issue is not going away.

The documentary poses some big questions: "Who’s watching over Great Lakes water? Are the laws strong enough to protect the region’s drinking water supply? Should global corporations have the right to use Great Lakes water to make big profits?"