Offfice:
420 E. Front St.,
Traverse City, MI 49684

231-944 1568

The Solution: Protecting the Public Trust
A Bill of Rights for the Respect and Protection of the Waters and People of the Great Lakes Basin.

The solution is quite simple. Each state and province within the Basin must immediately enact legislation that declares water a commons held in public trust. This means a declaration that the private and public use of water in our watersheds and the Basin are protected from diversion, export, sale, and abuse or exaction and harm for private gain or government abuse. This is the outer limit, the umbrella, or shield that provides the basic protection of water for all citizens and users.

This does not mean stopping or interfering with legitimate and reasonable private uses of water, such as farming, manufacturing, municipal water supplies, or public use of water. It does mean preventing the impairment and diminishment of the flows and levels of water that define the integrity and value of the ecosystem and all uses in the Basin. It does mean preventing exports and claims of control or ownership by private interests of water itself. And, it means, as a bill of rights and respect, that the substantial public value of water is presumed for all. The burden is on those who would alter or impair this value to show, in advance, that their actions will not alter, harm, alienate, or subordinate the water and its many human and natural uses for private purposes or gain. If they cannot or do not do so, their actions are deemed improper.

“Rights” means that private landowners, citizens, or other entities that depend on their use and enjoyment of water may bring actions in the agencies and courts where they live to prevent an impairment of the flow, levels, and quality of the water.

“Respect” means that both government and private entities and persons have a duty to obtain all reasonable information and assure that there will be no impairment, harm, or diminishment of the waters and its uses, and to assure that it will not be diverted, exported, sold, taken over, or exacted by private interests for their primary benefit and gain.