Environmental News Canada's water supply vulnerable to export pressures Canada's efforts to protect its water from bulk export faltered in November when 5 of 10 provinces refused to endorse a voluntary accord because of uncertainties about its effectiveness. Environmentalists said the accord, which called on each province to ban bulk transfer of water between major basins, would open freshwater resources to exploitation under international free-trade agreements. "The wake-up call came in 1998 when The Nova Group of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, got a permit to sell Lake Superior water in bulk to China," said Tim Eder, director the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes office. The permit was withdrawn, but since then, a handful of companies have attempted to export water from Canada. Sun Belt Inc., of Santa Barbara, CA, has brought a $10.5 billion lawsuit against British Columbia for a ban that halted water sales said Jamie Dunn campaign coordinator with the Council of Canadians
Looming water shortages have companies in the United States eyeing Canada's rich supply of water for bulk export.
The failed accord is part of a federal strategy that includes a request from both Canada and the United States to the International Joint Commission (IJC) to report by February on protecting the Great Lakes. An interim report released by the IJC in August 1999 recommended mat the United States and Canada place a moratorium on bulk sales of water. Although high costs make ex-
Corps plan for water management met with opposition The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is marching ahead with plans to divert the rising waters of North Dakota's Devil's Lake into Canada despite scientists' concerns that the project will not work and will pollute Manitoba's water. New research shows that the lake rides a climatic cycle that recurs every 175 years when a 15- to 20-year rainy period fills the basin to overflowing, explained Gerry Groenewold, hydrogeologist at the University of North Dakota. Since 1993, the lake has nearly tripled in size and now tops out at 1446 feet above sea level, said Mike Grafsgaard, water resource engineer at the North Dakota State Water Commission. Devil's Lake has flooded highways and homes, 81,000 acres of land, and threatens the town of Churches Ferry, said Grafsgaard. The lake could overflow at 1459 feet into the Sheyenne River, which joins the Red River near Fargo and flows north to Manitoba, said Grafsgaard. The Corps has floated a plan to construct an outlet that would operate when the lake reaches a level of 1454 feet, sometime after 2006. Because Devil's Lake is so salty, only a small amount of its water can be released into the Sheyenne River and still meet water quality standards, said Groenewold. He found that the outlet dropped the lake level in only 6 out of 10,000 traces of a water flow model of the lake. "The best the outlet can do is to buy some time. Is the expense worth it?" he asked. Manitoba passed a bill in December banning bulk imports from Devil's Lake, Brandson said. "We're adamantly opposed to the outlet," he said, citing concerns about introductions of fish diseases and invasive species. —JANET PELLEY
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ports from the Great Lakes unlikely, the two countries can protect their water resources without violating international trade agreements, according to Frank Bevacqua, public information officer for the IJC. Not so, responded Dunn. "Water is listed as a good under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and you can't ban any exports of goods under NAFTA," he said. That is why the federal government has asked the provinces to enact legislation prohibiting the transfer of water between major basins as an environmental, not trade, protection measure, said Reynauld Doiron, spokesperson in the Department of Foreign Affairs. But if any province pulls out of the accord and starts exporting water bans in all the other provinces would be open to trade challenges Dunn claimed Manitoba did not sign the federal accord because the province "was concerned to make sure the agreement went far enough, and wants assurance that it does not preclude the federal government from taking further actions," explained Norm Brandson, deputy minister of conservation for Manitoba. In the United States, Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) has introduced a bill that would place a moratorium on the sale of water until the passage of legislation that sets federal policy, or until the IJC report is released. —JANET PELLEY
