First Shot In The Water Wars?

A recent article on Salon.com profiles the problems facing southern and western states rapidly running low on water. Eastern and Mid-Western states are worried that our water is going to be poached by a region that has spent the past decade stealing our jobs and population. The solution proposed by the author of this article Edward McLelland? You can have all the water you want, just move back northeast. He even has some great things to say about the ‘Cuse:

“Syracuse would love to have you, too. They’ve lost a higher proportion of young people than any other city in the U.S., perhaps because they engineered their own demise, being the headquarters of Carrier Air Conditioning, the appliance that made the Sun Belt possible. But they still have Syracuse Orange basketball. And Dinosaur Barbecue, which has the best ribs in Upstate New York, and the funniest bathroom graffiti anywhere.”

One of the first casualties? New Mexico Governnor and Presidential candidate Bill Richardson. His statement about coveting water from the Great Lakes (”states like Wisconsin are awash in water”) was noticed by the Great Lakes states. As Peter Annin, author of “The Great Lakes Water Wars.” states, Richardson’s campaign is essentially dead. “You throw Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York out of the mix, it’s really hard to win an election.”

The Great Lakes states are trying to get their Great Lakes Compact passed by all eight state legislatures in the region, an attempt to ban all large transfers of water from the Great Lakes. It’s important to get this done now since Congressional approval is also required for approval and the re-apportioning that will happen in 2012 will cost water rich states Congressional seats and see drought states in the south and west gain more influence.