Whiskey is for drinking and water is for …

Speaking at a political fundraising luncheon in Traverse City, Michigan, on March 21, 2000, U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey made a candid remark that foreshadows future diversion threats to Great Lakes waters.

“I’m from Texas and, down there, we understand that whiskey is for drinking and that water is for fighting over. … You are going to have to protect your Great Lakes.”

Water security — for the citizens of Michigan and the world — depends on conservation and clear rules for withdrawals and exports. But a proposal by the Perrier Group, the nation’s leading water bottler, to divert Great Lakes water from central Michigan shows that the state’s water laws and regulations are inadequate to protect citizens and to prevent commercial exploitation of Great Lakes water.

The Michigan Land Use Institute report, Liquid Gold Rush, describes the problem, offers solutions, and calls for the Michigan Legislature to take a Great Lakes leadership role by modernizing its water policy.