The Great Lakes primer

In cases of the proposed exception for “straddling counties,” approval requires, in addition to the Regional Review, approval by the Council (meaning the US States in the Basin that have brought the Compact into effect). [...] The federal governments of Canada and the United States, not parties to the agreement, pointed out that the agreement needed tougher language to ensure that the role of the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, the International Joint Commission and public trust law in the Great Lakes states were not implicitly weakened. [...] PRIMER STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE 2005 DRAFT COMPACT AND AGREEMENT: The following is a “quickie” approach to the highs and lows of the new 2005 draft. [...] The 2005 draft is not based on the principle from the 2004 draft that a user outside the basin has the same rights to water as a user in the basin or in straddling counties. [...] On the other hand, others suggest that the realities of consolidated utilities across the basin divide, and the withdrawal of Great Lakes water by over-pumping groundwater just outside the basin divide make it advisable to bring both straddling and nearby communities into the management regime.