Great Lakes Reach Record Low Water Levels

[Purveyor]

Source: 9&10 News

The Great Lakes have had lower water levels this past year, but now they have reached an all-time, record low.

The Federal Government says preliminary numbers show both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron reached record low water levels, in December.

The credit is given to the low level, to light snowfall last Winter, and light rainfall in the Spring.

The previous all-time low level was set in 1964, at 576.2 feet.

Read more: http://www.9and10news.com/story/20491499/great-lakes-reach-record-low-water-levels

[Flashmann]

1. Alarming

Maybe the new Congress,when they repeal the ACA,can attach a rider requiring,by law,that the lakes refill themselves......SHould be simple........

[longship]

2. The aquifers are in trouble, too.

We have a water bottling plant in the area which is having profound negative impact on residential wells.

Bottled water is one of the most idiotic, useless ideas ever. Plus, it's harmful -- all those plastic bottles, to say nothing of the cost and the fact that your tap water is the same damned thing. Stoopid!

[Flashmann]

5. Yes they are....

We use a Britta filter and get essentially the same as bottled water..Sadly,most everyone we know,buys bottled water and toss the empties out with the trash......

That may result in decreased flow down the Niagara River and hence to the Niagara Power stations on both sides of the river

Wow....I hadn't considered that.....However I did know the Mississippi River is low enough that barge traffic,(commerce) is severley impacted.....There was a story on this mornings local newscast about a barge company owner/ship Captain has docked his whole fleet,til levels rise.......They went into some mind boggling detail on how many train cars and/or semi trailers it would take to move the tonnage one barge handles.....

[UnrepentantLiberal]

17. Here:

[marlea3]

19. Bottling is a large problem

Oh, how I agree with you, longship.
Many links to what happened in Mescota County, Michigan, are gone. Not enough people realize what is happening and companies like Nestle, do everything they can to keep it all quiet.

Persons residing near areas of freshwater need to stay aware of water bottling companies like Nestle. Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) in Mecosta County, MI, fought for nearly a decade to limit Nestle's pumping from the aquifer in Mescota County.

Nestle Waters North America(Ice Mountain) initially pumped up to 400 gallons of water per minute from Michigan's White River water shed in Mescota.
Nestle refused to modify that pumping regime – even after it became clear to all involved that too much water was being withdrawn, and the watershed was suffering.
In 2009 an out of court settlement was agreed to. Under the agreement Nestle Waters North America can pump an average of 218 gallons per minute (about 313,000 gallons a day).

Muskegon Lake, which channels directly out to Lake Michigan, gets it's water from the Muskegon River. This river runs right through Mescota County and the aquifer that Nestle was so adtimate to pump from.

Resources of any state, should NEVER belong to ANY company. Like our parks, hills and mountains, NO company should have a right to destroy them or diminish them in any way.

The following are some quotes and links:

"The Ice Mountain Spring Water Bottling Factory is pumping hundreds of millions of gallons per year of Michigan water out of enormous bore hole deep wells — taking billions of dollars in corporate profit from water that belongs to the people of Michigan. We think this is wrong! We think Michigan water should not become the private property of a Swiss owned water mining factory. Ice Mountain Spring Water™ is a wholly owned division of Nestlé Waters North America, Inc. — which was formerly marketed as the Perrier Group of America Inc."
Taken from: http://wearemichigan.com/WorldWaterWars/UnitedStates/Michigan/index.htm

Anyone living near freshwater, should check this out:
http://www.savemiwater.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2009-02.pdf

and this:
http://www.savemiwater.org/mcwcvsnestle/

[TrogL]

3. That may affect power in the Eastern States and Provinces

That may result in decreased flow down the Niagara River and hence to the Niagara Power stations on both sides of the river.

[NickB79]

9. I wonder how many coal-fired powerplants rely on Great Lakes water

For cooling and steam generation? Lack of water will make it more difficult for them to generate electricity.

[Sirveri]

11. There are also a couple of nuke reactors on the lakes.

I actually visited one of them.

[leftyohiolib]

4. light rain in the spring? it rained all of april and ,may and into june

[Flashmann]

7. Not in Central Illinois......

In fact,lawns around here were turning brown,just at the point where they normally require twice weekly mowing,last spring/early summer.....I normally go through a full 5 gallon can of lawnmower gas,and 2-3 gallons of a second.....I still have a good 2 gallons left of the FIRST fiver from last year......The other day,in the morning local farm report,they were discussing how the soil is too dry for crops,all the way down to the one foot depth......

[Purveyor]

8. Not around Jackson, Michigan. I have swamps/ponds that I can walk across. First time in my 54yrs

around this place.

Oh, we had a whopping 4" of snow so far this winter, roughly equivalent to .4 inches of rain. Whoop!

[leftyohiolib]

15. im in cleveland ohio and we got drenched

[hunter]

6. I think control structures are inevitable to protect the levels of Lake Michigan–Huron...

... if we still have an economy and political system that can support that sort of project.

But we will probably be much too busy holding together a disintegrating military empire we cannot afford, and then things will fall apart.

A Soviet style disintegration looks attractive to Wall Street gangsters who think they'll be able to walk away with all the loot.

[lovuian]

10. Is it still true millions of gallons of water is still being sold

to China

Wake up America

[UnrepentantLiberal]

18. That would be one long pipeline.

[roamer65]

12. The biggest problem was the lack of snowfall and the mild winter.

Not enough snowfall to replenish the lakes and they did not freeze over last winter. No freeze over means evaporation stays high. It will get worse as our winters become shorter and warmer.

[Purveyor]

13. We have had about 4 inches of snow mid-mich for the season so far and forecast to be in the mid-50's

by next weekend.

Nothing on the horizon to help with this situation, nothing at all.

[amandabeech]

16. Meanwhile, China is having its coldest winter on record.

Who says there's nothing to global warming.

From a Michigan native who grew up 10 miles from Lake Michigan.

[Evasporque]

20. Dredging the St. Clair river is the culprit...

"But studies have shown that Huron and Michigan fell by 25 to 40 centimetres because of dredging over the years to deepen the navigational channel in the St. Clair River, most recently in the 1960s. Dredging of the river, which is on the south end of Lake Huron, accelerated the flow of water southward from the two lakes toward Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/lake-huron-lake-michigan-at-lowest-water-levels-on-record/article8287279/

[Godhumor]

14. Yup, playing hell with marine freight carriers

We are definitely hoping for a big winter.