Traverse City Conference Warns that Corporations are Gaining Dangerous Control Over World's Waters

Jim Olson, nationally renowned environmental lawyer based in Traverse City and chair of the Flow for Water Coalition, warns that precedent is giving more and more ownership of water rights to corporations at the expense of public good.

Traverse City -- Perhaps it shouldn't come as any surprise that Traverse City, sitting at the base of one of the largest, cleanest freshwater bays on the planet, has become a remarkable center for water preservation. But still, the quality of individuals and thought being applied to this issue from the shores of our little town continues to amaze me over and over again.

I was struck with this notion yet again this weekend when I attended the Friday evening and Saturday session of Flow For Water Coalition's "Saving the Great Lakes Forever," a conference devoted to halting the privatization of water and keeping ownership of water where it has belonged for centuries, in what legal types call "the commons," essentially meaning the water should remain owned by the people, just like air is.

Traverse City environmental attorney Jim Olson has been among America's leading voices on this issue, warning America early and incessantly that our laws and courts are slowly but steadily weakening the public's right to decide who gets to use our water for what. And that weakening is happening at the very time the threats on our water are growing by the year. The August issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine, will run a feature about Jim Olson and his relentless drive in this important area of law--will be an eye opener, trust me.

The weekend conference, then, touched on all of these issues, and conference organizers brought in several leading voices on the topic, including Maude Barlow, who has consulted to the United Nations on the topic and community activists from Milwaukee who had to fight their city's efforts to sell water services to a private contractor.

One of the most troubling examples that the conference presenters highlighted happened in California, where a water shortage forced the government to choose between allocating water to agriculture or water to energy extraction. Farmers had to cut water use in many cases by 80%. Oil companies lost not a drop.

During the conference, Traverse City's water-ati were on fine display, as well. Hans VanSumeren, who heads the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute at Northwestern Michigan College, kicked off Saturday morning's session with a letter from one of his students who is doing fascinating water work in Asia. Then Keith Schneider, with Traverse City-based Circle of Blue, beamed in by Skype from Washington, D.C., to discuss looming global threats (from as far away as China) to America's, and especially the Great Lakes', water.

Stay tuned to this issue. It's going to grow more important with each passing year. And definitely check out our August story. Promises to be a provocative tale.—Jeff Smith, editor, Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine.