In years of high waters, residents in his district complain of Lake St. Clair's flooding and damage to sea walls. Maybe we need to think about helping and financially compensating those who are suffering. Past lake extremes have prompted still other solutions. During record lake lows in 1964, Sen. Philip Hart of Michigan asked Canadian officials to consider sluicing water from their distant rivers into the Great Lakes system. The Canadians curtly refused.
Scientists stress that diversions from Canada and similar plans tend to be crude and expensive.
They rarely account for variations in rain and snowfall in the Ontario watershed, lake evaporation or for warming patterns seen in weather worldwide. Environmental groups object on another front, arguing that water diversions to or from the lakes only trade problems between regions. Diversions also create expectations among residents impossible to sustain over time, they say. The new report is being published jointly by the commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, another decisive player on the lakes. Eight U.S. states with lake shoreline and the Canadian province of Quebec are commission members.