A new report out from the Michigan Land Use Institute sheds some light on a dangerous loophole in Michigan’s new Water Legacy Act that undermines our state’s ability to secure the future of our Great Lakes. Though there is much to like in the new law, the law contains language that allows for the first legally sanctioned diversion of Great Lakes water since the early years of the last century. As a result of the “Nestle loophole,” Nestle Waters, N.A., the world’s leading water bottler, could soon be pulling 300 million gallons of water out of Michigan wells and aquifers. Jim Olson, a leading environmental attorney and lawyer for Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, has accurately labeled this diversion of nearly a million gallons a day as “outrageously reckless.”

The Great Lakes are our single greatest natural resource. They define our state, both literally and figuratively, and our public officials have a moral responsibility to be stewards of the lakes, and do everything they can to protect them. As I’ve written before, while the new law represents a step in the right direction, we need to close the Nestle loophole and plug the leaks in the law that allow our water to be diverted one bottle at a time.