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WASHINGTON - Gov. James Doyle, Rep. Tom Petri and other members of the Great Lakes congressional delegation held a press conference in the Capitol Building Wednesday to promote the Great Lakes Compact, an agreement between their states to impose regulations and reporting requirements on large diversions of water from the lakes, and to mandate conservation programs to protect the region's water supplies.
To take effect, the legislation sanctioning the Compact must be approved by Congress and signed by the President.
"This legislation is important because it creates a legal framework for working jointly among the states and with the Canadian provinces to protect our Great Lakes ecology," Petri said.
"The Great Lakes are, of course, a unique world resource. It's the largest collection of fresh water in the world, but it's also a very fragile environment," he said. "The majority of water that enters the Great Lakes basin actually falls directly on the Great Lakes. If there were any diversions of any substantial size from the Great Lakes, it, in all likelihood, would not be replenished, and we would see gradually lowering lake levels - which are already a concern. And at the end of the day, we could lose a major, both environmental and economic, resource."
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