In the North American Great Lakes region, we have a historic opportunity to protect our collective watery blessing, the Great Lakes basin. This includes the surface and ground water tributary resources of the basin as well as the lakes themselves. We here at Ground Water Science live and have our offices in tributaries of Lake Erie: The Blanchard River and the Sandusky River watersheds. The lakes and their surrounding watersheds are among the world's great water resources. We have them due to a convergence of climate and geology. Great glaciers carved and initially filled the lakes, and our humid, relatively cool climate keeps them supplied with water. Other parts of the USA and the world covet that water supply. We need to protect it both from appropriation (actually not terribly likely given engineering barriers) and degradation (in progress). We have an opportunity to do it ourselves instead of it being dictated by Washington. Some Ohio senators have stood in the way because of ignorance and stubbornness or due to some arcane senator calculus only they understand. Various organizational and fellow legislator sheep finally placated them enough so they could get the compact ratified...

Latest news: The Ohio State Senate and House came to agreement on a constitutional amendment (to be decided on by the voters on November 4) that the Senate hardheads wanted as a condition of passage. The amendment is intended to protect landowners' rights to reasonable use of ground water flowing under their property. This is a right they already have! The Compact goes into effect regardless of the voters' decision on November 4. So talk about your pointless legislative exercise.

It took eight years to get this done. Ohio state government is its usual inept self. Laurel and Hardy or Bill and Silent Bob do state government. Note that only in Ohio and primarily because of one man is there question about ground water property rights.   

"All like sheep have gone astray..." The solution is to put an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that is intended to protect "our precious bodily fluids" or "property rights" to use of ground water. The Ohio Environmental Council interprets this as rights already granted. Paragraph E of the following looks like every public water supply development could be litigated Colorado-like. A good informed legal opinion is needed. The Ohio Constitution is hung with a patchwork of such piece-work amendments - all political stripes are to blame for that.

Text of the Ohio House and Senate Joint Resolution with the proposed amendment 

Text of the Compact 

According to Noah Hall, author of the Great Lakes Water Law blog  the amendment does not change the rights that private property owners already have. So what's the point, this technical person asks?

State Senator Larry Mumper, R-Marion, who represents Upper Sandusky, was a cosponsor of the Senate bill that insisted on modifying the Compact, and thus precipitating the need for a revote in all the other legislatures if Ohio passed that legislation - and this whole ridiculous exercise to get the Senate on board. Mr. Mumper is an otherwise stand-up guy who occasionally gets caught up in nonsense like this (or legislation that would have required all eBay sellers in Ohio to register as auctioneers). I can't imagine why unless it is golf buddy or politics stuff. He obviously ignores the advice of the only professional hydrogeologist living in his district. Sen. Tim Grendell was the proverbial "dog in the manger" who apparently could hold off the entire state of Ohio. He has, as far as one can tell, no background in water management law. He obviously has a lot of gall - that he is so important that the whole region has to do what he wants done. So - which is more important in passing legislation? Expertise or hubris? God help us.