Detroit pipeline draining Canadian water illegally, Ontario officials allege
The Canadian Press
December 23, 2008
HAMILTON -- Detroit has been stealing Canadian water for 44 years.
It seems the Motor City's drinking-water intake pipe extends 90 metres across the international boundary in the Detroit River, and it's been siphoning as much as 121 billion litres a year since 1964 without a provincial water-taking permit.
"The City of Detroit was unfamiliar with Ontario requirements for water takings and has never had a permit to take water," says the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
Alerted to the illegal water grab when Detroit conducted a screening under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act for maintenance work on its southwest water treatment plant in 2006, the ministry now plans to exempt the city from provincial regulations.
The public has until Jan. 31 to comment on a proposal to let Detroit continue to operate the intake without a permit "because of the historical nature and unique circumstances."
It would also be exempt from fees "as administering the charge would be onerous and difficult to enforce."
Joe Cressy, campaign co-ordinator for the Ottawa-based Polaris Institute - which is crusading against bottled water - said yesterday he was unaware of the Detroit situation, "but unfortunately it doesn't surprise me."
"What we see frequently in this country is a desire to export its greatest resource, water, at the whim of corporate or government closed-door interests, whether through bottled water or loopholes such as this."
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