There’s a lot of talk about water this week. And it’s not all coming from Slip ‘N Slide enthusiasts, either.

The good news is that on Monday, June 23, a deal was brokered between the Michigan House and Senate to protect the Great Lakes and our inland rivers and streams from withdrawal by dry states in the southwest. This deal makes Michigan the seventh state to ratify the Great Lakes Basin Compact – a package deal that would provide protection for the Great Lakes and its eight surrounding states. We’re looking at you, Pennsylvania.

The bad news, however, is that this fight is far from finished.

The protectors of the Great Lakes still have 20,000 leagues to go before victory is totally and finally accomplished. As water-protection advocates like Cyndi Roper and the rest of Clean Water Action’s Michigan team have warned, the struggle for public control over our state’s water supply still lies ahead. So does the effort to thwart bottled water industries who wish to swoop in and drain the falsely-deceptive “endless” water supply of the Great Lakes. (There’s a reason why “naïve” is “Evian” spelled backwards).

If ensuring public control over our water supply is ever to be a reality, legislators need to stop treating water as industrial commodity, and give it the respect it deserves: as a publicly-owned, highly valuable natural resource. Protection from the bottled water and corporations that would like to sell our water for profit to other H20-hungry states and nations must be established, and firmly at that. If Michigan legislators ever hope to push our state forward and cast us as a major protector of water, emphasis on the public’s right to control our own water is absolutely essential. The Great Lakes belong to the people, not to gigantic corporations or sprawling subdivisions in Arizona.

Get ready for the fight ahead over public trust or corporate control. It’s up to Michigan’s residents to stand up for the Great Lakes and our precious inland water sources. Together, we can prevent greedy corporations and other states and nations from pulling the plug and sending Michigan’s water down the drain.