Document Type
Comment
Abstract
Michigan is known as the Great Lakes State: Daily life, the economy, recreation, agriculture, and more are influenced and even defined by the abundance of waterways all around. Lulled into complacency by the seeming excess of water, residents, business owners, politicians, and tourists all likely believe that the Great Lakes are inexhaustible. Elsewhere, extended droughts brought on by climate change deplete traditional sources of water, even while the demand for it grows, in industry, agriculture, and the municipal water supply for developing communities.
This increased demand will threaten the viability and sustainability of the Great Lakes in the coming decades. Water resources in the region are further threatened by exploitation from profit-seeking business entities, able to capitalize on Great Lakes water as a nearly free resource because of a dearth of legal protections for the groundwater that feeds the lakes, a valuable resource itself.
The judiciary should consider steps to protect and conserve Great Lakes water through an expanded and more progressive approach to determining the reasonable use of water. It is within the power of the Michigan judiciary to set forward-thinking precedent and to protect groundwater in the Great Lakes, thereby resulting in the sustainability of water resources for future generations.
Recommended Citation
Schoof, Alycia
(2025)
"Who Will Save the Water? Appealing to the Judiciary to Revisit Reasonable Use,"
University of Dayton Law Review: Vol. 50:
No.
0, Article 1.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udlr/vol50/iss0/1
Publication Date
5-15-2025
