Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps

by Dave Dempsey

Great Lakes for Sale is a book for anyone interested in saving the Great Lakes, a huge fresh-water system that contains an estimated 6 quadrillion gallons of water and about twenty percent of the world's fresh surface water. The book poses---and answers---important questions about the export and diversion of Great Lakes water. Not only does Great Lakes for Sale examine past and present water-diversion practices; it also shows readers what they can do to save this natural resource.

It's difficult to understate the importance of the Great Lakes water system---economically, environmentally, or from a public-health perspective. The Great Lakes support year-round sport fishery, they provide a route for commercial and recreational navigation, and they supply many communities with drinking water. Water means jobs and life in the Great Lakes region. And, while residents of this huge region revel in a seemingly limitless quantity of fresh water today, it's likely that the future will see that same fresh water grow ever more scarce as well as become a source of contention between thirsty communities---and corporations---further afield and those who live in this giant watershed.

Great Lakes for Sale is an important part of the effort to remind people why commercialization of Great Lakes water is a dangerous threat. It's not simply a matter of how much water in the short term is removed; the long-term threat is control of water and the possibility that non-Great Lakes interests will assert ownership of the very substance of the Great Lakes.

Dave Dempsey serves as Communications Director for Conservation Minnesota and consults for other environmental and conservation organizations across Minnesota and Michigan. He is author of William G. Milliken: Michigan's Passionate Moderate and Ruin and Recovery: Michigan's Rise as a Conservation Leader.

Genres: Nonfiction

110 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2008

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decided to pick up another book about the Great Lakes Water Compact after reading the engrossing The Great Lakes Water Wars. This book is written by a former staff member for the Michigan governor who has also worked with conservation groups.

The tone at time verges on philippic, and he seems to focus more on the weaknesses of the compact than the previous book. One thing which Dave Dempsey does particularly well is his explanation of the changes in water use and the degradation of public trust doctrine and legal precedent (most often due to the machinations of right-wing politicians). The issue of water use and export is very complicated, and the laws are patchwork quilts of strange legal definitions, but that is part of what makes them so fascinating.

[Cynthia Leet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviews politics and events behind the Great Lakes Compact (2005) and efforts from outside the Great Lakes basin to obtain fresh water. Updated version (2021) gives new changes and broader overlook. Political machinations and goals not met pointed out.

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am going to look for a book with a Canadian point of view.

This one is heavy with jargon/legalese. Not that that is really bad, just mind numbing.

[Pat Jorgenson Waterchilde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a very easy read