A translation by Judith Turcotte.
In my last blog, a few of my readers were skeptical with the idea of directing the water of the Great Lakes to Arizona and California, a project that appears too ambitious. However, not so long ago, in 1985, such a project had made the headlines.
The Grand Recycling and Northern Development Canal, also known as the “Grand Canal” aimed at recovering the fresh water of the rivers that flowed into Hudson’s Bay (Rupert, Eastmain, Nottaway and La Grande). The idea was to create dams to prevent the fresh water from reaching the salt water. A large fresh-water lake would then be created at James Bay and a pipeline network would direct this water to Georgian Bay in order to increase the level of the Great Lakes. This same water would then be directed to the southern states thanks to a pipeline.
The project had interested the prime minister of Québec, Robert Bourassa and the prime minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney. Large engineering firms had supported the concept but the fear of a negative impact on the environment and the costs of such a project prevented the project from moving forward.
Today, there are no concrete projects to direct the water of the Great Lakes to California; however, Trump recently hinted at the possibility of such a project. In the North American free-trade agreement, the exportation of water in its natural state is excluded. This agreement must be renegotiated in 2026. With the drought problems in the United States, it would not be surprising that Trump insists in including the exportation of the water of the Great Lakes to the South in the new agreement to be negotiated.
This project of the “Grand Canal” aimed at accommodating our neighbours to the South whom we considered as friends and allies at the time. It is no longer the case as long as Trump is in power. The problem people experience in the United States due to the lack of water is nothing compared to the scarcity of drinkable water in Africa and Asia where the most serious water crisis problem exists in the world. It affects billions of people. The fresh water that flows into James Bay is forever lost. There will come a day when the project of “Grand Canal” comes out of the moth balls to help solve the problem.
The massive exportation of water by tankers from two continents has been discussed, however, remains marginal. Many African countries import bottled drinking water. The main multinational exporters of bottled water are Nestlé (Switzerland), Danone (France), Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola. The two American multinationals obtain their water from municipal networks; Nestle also uses municipal water but also claim that they obtain part of their water from natural sources, a declaration repeatedly challenged. In a majority of the cases, these water distributors pay the same tariff to the municipalities as other commercial users. The municipalities do not take into account that this water will be resold. Only Danone sells water that comes from natural resources.
Fresh water is not an unlimited resource and the project of “Grand Canal” could become profitable. Desperate times call for desperate measures as they say.