The Great Lakes are the largest collection of fresh surface water on earth, and more than 40 million Americans and Canadians live in their basin. Will we divert water from the Great Lakes, causing them to end up like Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has lost 90 percent of its surface area and 75 percent of its volume since 1960? Or will we come to see that unregulated water withdrawals are ultimately catastrophic? Peter Annin writes a fast-paced account of the people and stories behind these upcoming battles. Destined to be the definitive story for the general public as well as policymakers, The Great Lakes Water Wars is a balanced, comprehensive look behind the scenes at the conflicts and compromises that are the past-and future-of this unique resource.

Considers H.R. 1 and S. 308, to authorize HEW and Army Corps of Engineers to study the effects of increased water diversion from Lake Michigan into the Illinois Waterway and the effects upon the Great Lakes. Includes "Memorandum for U.S. as Amicus Curiae in the Supreme Court, States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania v State of Illinois and the Sanitary District of Chicago, On Amended Application of the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York for a Reopening and Amendment of the Decree of Apr. 21, 1930, and the Granting of Further Relief," Oct. Term, 1958 (p. 63-123).