So break Canada up then...***** AMERICA
US plans to send Missouri water north worry Canada
Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:26 PM ET
By Marcy Nicholson
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - U.S. plans to combat droughts by
diverting Missouri River water north into Canada are pushing the two
countries toward their second clash in a year over water use.
At issue is a North Dakotan plan to divert water from the Missouri
River into a system that would take it over the border to Lake Winnipeg
in Manitoba, the world's 10th largest freshwater lake and home to a
commercial fishery.
North Dakota says it faces severe drought within 50 years and needs to
tap water from the Missouri, which normally flows into the Mississippi
River and then on to the Gulf of Mexico.
When drought conditions hit, the proposed diversion would take an
estimated 120 cubic feet of water per second out of the river, which
flows at an average of 20,000 cubic feet per second.
The province of Manitoba, still smarting from losing a bruising row
with North Dakota over draining low-lying Devil's Lake into a river
that feeds into Lake Winnipeg, says the risks of the plan are just too
big.
"Our concern would be that brings a risk of harm to Manitoba with the
potential movement of harmful, invasive species," Dwight Williamson of
Manitoba Water Stewardship told Reuters in a recent interview.
That's one of the arguments the Manitoba government put forward last
year when it and the Canadian government resisted the Devil's Lake
plan. North Dakota finally got its way after agreeing to add more rocks
and gravel to its drain as filters to try to prevent the introduction
of foreign species.
Gaile Whelan-Enns, spokeswoman for Sierra Club Canada, said the latest
plan is an even greater concern as it would join two water basins that
have been separated for 10,000 years and could bring foreign species
from the Missouri River to Lake Winnipeg and then to Hudson Bay.
"The Boundary Waters Treaty between Canada and the U.S. must be
upheld," she said.
The treaty, which dates from 1909, says an independent agency known as
the International Joint Commission should resolve cross-border water
disputes.
In 1977, the commission recommended against diverting water from the
Missouri unless the two countries could agree that risks can be
eliminated.
Merri Mooridian, of the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District in
North Dakota, said a treatment plant for the proposed water supply
project would prevent invasive species from getting into Canadian
waters.
"We feel this alternative, with the proper treatment, will not harm the
water," she said.
Canada wants North Dakota to use water sources within the Red River
Basin in Minnesota and North Dakota, but Mooridian said there will not
be enough water available during the expected drought.
The Garrison Diversion is due to issue its final environmental impact
statement by December, after which the U.S. interior secretary will
make a final ruling. Congressional approval will be required before
construction can begin.
Construction, estimated to cost $500 million to $660 million, would
probably not start before 2009 and the system would be operational by
2012 at the earliest.
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