Katherine Hanson, The Great Lakes Compact and Transboundary Water Agreements, 34 Wis. Int'l L.J. 668 (2017).
Abstract
This Comment analyzes the Great Lakes Compact and
Agreement in light of the city of Waukesha's recent proposal to divert
water outside of the Great Lakes Basin. The conflict over Waukesha's
diversion application highlights the Compact's capacity to manage
changing conditions and crises, but it is unclear whether the current
governance system can handle other serious issues, such as natural
resource extraction and emerging pollutants. This Comment places the
Compact within the existing Great Lakes legal frameworks and compares
them with other international water sharing agreements, finding that
these management systems have fallen behind other international
agreements in certain areas. The Compact and Agreement are necessary
supplements to previous legal frameworks governing the lakes, but these
frameworks can still use improvements, and modeling provisions in the
Baltic Sea Action Plan and the European Union Water Directive could
strengthen Great Lakes governance structure. This Comment concludes
that while the Compact and Agreement are less than a decade old, it is
not too early to consider amendments that will fortify the Great Lakes'
abilities to adapt to future challenges.
