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Doyle urges Wis. Legislature to approve Great Lakes water compact

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Gov. Jim Doyle urged the Wisconsin Legislature on Friday to approve the Great Lakes Compact designed to prevent thirsty regions from tapping the area's valuable water supply.

"The Great Lakes present a great economic opportunity for Wisconsin," he said during a news conference at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Water Institute. "One of our greatest competitive advantages in a 21st Century global economy is our water.

"By signing the Great Lakes Compact, we will help Wisconsin businesses grow and attract new businesses to our state. It's important we protect, preserve, and improve the Great Lakes in order to ensure a strong Wisconsin future."

Generally, the agreement limits transfers of water from the lakes to communities in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Basin.

It allows limited exceptions for diversions outside the basin, such as supplying water for public purposes in communities nearby. Those straddling communities or counties would be required to return treated water to the lakes after use.

Each Great Lakes governor can veto water diversions within counties straddling the basin line — even in other states. The compact preserves that power, but establishes criteria under which such a move could be made, Doyle said.

Such vetoes can now be made for political reasons, he added.