Field Notes: The Great Lakes Compact

Several decades ago, some forward-thinking politicians and water resource specialists created the Great Lakes Compact, a legally binding interstate compact with protections for the use and transfer of the waters of the Great Lakes and signed in 2008 by the governors of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The full title, the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, also includes the premiers of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.