Good news out of Wisconsin this week. The state’s Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling blocking the sale of Lake Superior water.
A proposal to turn artesian groundwater that feeds Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin into a product for sale ran head-on into the law, the community, a tribe, and a citizens group, Lake Superior Not for Sale (LSNFS).
The company, Kristle KLR, said it would store the water in underground tanks on site, and transport it via tanker trucks to an off-site bottling facility in Superior, Wisconsin. Proposed markets included the Twin Cities of Minnesota, which lie outside the Great Lakes watershed.
It’s a big win for those who don’t want the Great Lakes to become a product to be sold on the market. But it’s only one of many battles that will be fought over control of Great Lakes water.