Number: 2000-11
WHEREAS, pressures to divert and/or export fresh water from natural watersheds to meet human needs is expected to increase dramatically in the 21st century. Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of population growth. In the late 1990’s, according to the United Nations, 31 countries were facing water scarcity and over 1 billion people lacked adequate access to clean drinking water. By the year 2025, as much as two-thirds of the world’s population will face water shortages. The World Bank has predicted that wars of this century will be fought over water, not oil; and
WHEREAS, the five Great Lakes hold twenty percent of the Earth’s fresh water, but, like all fresh water on the planet, this resource is not limitless. Only one percent of the waters of the Great Lakes is a renewable resource; and
WHEREAS, fresh waters in their natural watersheds, including the Great Lakes, are of infinite value to people that depend on them. Thirty-three million Canadians and Americans live within the Great Lakes drainage basin. The lakes provide drinking water, generate hydro-electric power, provide water for irrigation and manufacturing, and are the basis of a commercial and sport fishing industry valued at more than $4 billion annually; and
WHEREAS, freshwater resources are vital habitat for plants and wildlife. Much of this habitat has already been destroyed by pollution, destruction of wetlands, diversion and destruction of free-flowing rivers, inappropriate agricultural and forestry practices, and invasive species. Only two percent of the U.S.’s rivers and streams remain free-flowing. The Nature Conservancy has identified 100 species and 31 ecological communities at risk within the Great Lakes system. More than half of these communities do not exist anywhere else. Thirty-seven percent of the freshwater fish species in the U.S. face extinction; and
WHEREAS, exotic and invasive species caused by diversions and alterations of free-flowing rivers are an insidious threat to the health of native aquatic biological diversity. In 1900, native species made up 82 percent of the commercial fish catch in the Great Lakes. By 1966, less than one percent of the catch was made up of native species; and
WHEREAS, increased water consumption and expanded population will increase pressures on regions of North America such as the Great Lakes and Canadian provinces to supply water to drier regions; and
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has opposed new or increased diversions of Great Lakes waters in a resolution adopted in 1982; and
WHEREAS, a recent proposal to export Lake Superior water in bulk tankers has caused citizens and governments to evaluate the extent to which free trade obligations might interfere with the U.S. and Canada’s ability to restrict or prohibit exports or diversions. In some parts of the world, bulk fresh water is already being shipped to dry regions in fabric bags. The Canadian government is currently defending a lawsuit brought by SunBelt, a California-based company, under the North American Free Trade Agreement. This lawsuit seeks $11 billion in compensation because of British Columbia’s recission of a water export permit; and
WHEREAS, any diversions or exports of fresh water outside of natural water basin boundaries could establish a dangerous precedent under domestic or international law that would make it difficult if not impossible for governments to block future plans to divert or export large quantities of fresh water. Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. and Canada that would prohibit new exports or diversions outside of water basin boundaries;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 16-18, 2000, in Seattle, Washington, opposes any plans or proposals to divert or export any additional quantities of fresh water outside of the natural watershed boundaries of rivers, lakes and streams in North America, including the Great Lakes. While NWF opposes any new or increased diversions outside of watersheds as a fundamental principle of sustainable water management, we recognize that interbasin diversions currently help supply the water needs of millions of people. NWF will oppose new or increased interbasin diversions, except in exceptional cases where all of the following conditions exist. The proponent of a new or increased diversion must demonstrate that:
- The diversion is either essential for humanitarian purposes during a national or international emergency, or is primarily for the benefit or enhancement of imperiled natural resources or the habitat of imperiled indigenous populations of fish and/or wildlife; and
- No alternative exists to obtain the water that would prevent the need for the diversion; and
- A conservation plan exists to ensure that the existing water and the imported water will be used wisely and sustainably by all users; and
- The diversion is demonstrated not to pose substantial risks of adverse impacts in the basin from which the diversion will originate or in the basin to which the water will be diverted; and
- The water is returned to the watershed from which it is removed in as short a time frame as possible and in a condition that maintains the quality of, and prevents the introduction of alien invasive species into, the originating waters; and
- The public, including conservation groups, have access to decision-makers and the courts, to influence decisions about proposed diversions before they are made and to appeal decisions that are not in the interests of the public and natural resources; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges governments to adopt standards for managing water resources based on conservation, reuse, protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems. The standards must recognize that the existing system for managing fresh water is broken and that governments and citizens must play a role in fixing it. These standards should incorporate, at a minimum, the following principles:
- Fresh water is a finite resource;
- All parts of the ecosystem are dependent on water and land, groundwater, and surface water are interconnected;
- The standards should protect the rights of all users of the system, including those of recreationists, native people and those who speak for fish and wildlife;
- Cooperation between levels of governments must be enhanced so that water management issues are based on watershed boundaries, not necessarily on arbitrary political boundaries;
- Restoration and protection of fresh water resources must guide future decisions about water use;
- Conservation standards for water and any new water management system must recognize that our understanding of the complexity of biohydrology of fresh water systems is limited and will undoubtedly evolve (For example, some scientists’ models about the effects of global warming on Great Lakes levels predict a sharp decline);
- Wise water use and conservation must become commonplace;
- Citizens have rights to participate in decisions concerning water use and management, and must be afforded access to government processes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation supports that these conservation standards be developed and adopted into a new water management decision-making system and applied to questions regarding water uses both within basins and to proposals for diverting or exporting water outside of basin boundaries.