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Great Lakes Water Wars author Peter Annin featured on WRNC's Ecotopia program

December 16, 2011

Northland College radio station 97.7 WRNC examines how politics and policy play a role in water diversions from the Great Lakes with environmental journalist Peter Annin on the next episode of Ecotopia. Annin is the author of the Great Lakes Water Wars, a non-fiction book that chronicles the development of the Great Lakes Compact to prevent water diversions to areas outside the Great Lakes Basin.

Ecotopia is a monthly radio program produced by WRNC that looks at a topic or series of subjects related to the environment. The program will air Monday, Dec. 19, at 9 a.m. on 97.7 WRNC and again at 7 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Radio stations 91.3 KUWS in Superior and 90.9 WUWS in Ashland.

For December, WRNC's Danielle Kaeding talks with Annin about the events that lead to the formation of the Great Lakes Compact, how the compact affects management of water resources in the Great Lakes Basin and factors influencing water diversions.

"There's a lot of water tension internationally. According to the United Nations, more than one billion people lack access to clean drinking water everyday. Two million people die annually, mostly children, from unhealthy water conditions," says Annin. "Domestically in the United States, the Great Lakes region is really surrounded by this arc of water tension.... It's that arc of water tension that drives the Great Lakes water diversion debate."

Annin was a guest speaker in the William P. Van Evera Endowed Lectureship series, another offering in the Northland College Community Connections series.

Also, WRNC once again features Lissa Radke, U.S. Coordinator of the Lake Superior Binational Forum housed on the Northland College campus. Radke discusses the development of a new aquatic invasives species prevention plan through the Forum.

"It's always more expensive and more difficult to remove something that's been introduced than it would be to prevent it from coming into an ecosystem in the first place. That's why the Binational Program has written this complete prevention program," says Radke. "We try to find ways that we can minimize the access points for moving these invasive species from one waterway to another."

Ecotopia is a WRNC program produced in collaboration with Northland College and the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland. People may visit the WRNC website to hear extended interviews with guests and past programs at www.wrnclp.org.